How Personal & Internet Security Work

Chapter 23. How Biometrics Works

In today’s world, the ability to establish identity is more important than ever. Perhaps someone’s identity must be verified before he is allowed into a place of work or a secure facility. Maybe a computer or network only allows certain people to use it, and the identities of those someones must be verified first.

For these and many other reasons, the ability to establish identity is vital. But traditional ways of establishing identity, such as looking at a photograph, simply are not accurate enough for high-security settings. And it is often not practical to compare photographs because that is too labor-intensive. ...