Biometrics for authentication: security and privacy implications

This research study explores the security and privacy implications of biometric authentication technology. It discusses the various biometric technologies used for authentication, such as fingerprint recognition, voice recognition, face recognition, and iris recognition. The study also highlights the challenges and problems faced in biometric authentication, including privacy concerns, uniqueness issues, scanning problems, and security risks. Additionally, it identifies gaps in the current literature and suggests future research directions. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of understanding the security and privacy risks associated with biometric authentication.

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Biometrics for authentication:
security and privacy
implications

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Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the technology..................................................................................................................2
Relevant technologies and their applications........................................................................................3
Fingerprint recognition technology...................................................................................................3
Applications.......................................................................................................................................3
Voice recognition technology............................................................................................................3
Applications.......................................................................................................................................4
Face recognition................................................................................................................................4
Applications.......................................................................................................................................4
Iris recognition technology................................................................................................................4
Applications.......................................................................................................................................4
The challenges or problems occurred in biometric authentications......................................................4
Biometrics authentications are not private.......................................................................................5
The problem of uniqueness...............................................................................................................5
Scanning problems............................................................................................................................5
Security issue.....................................................................................................................................5
Identification of gaps in the literature...................................................................................................6
Future research direction......................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................6
References.............................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The term biometric authentication is defined as the advanced technology which
is used for verifying the identity of consumers. Mainly, such kind of technology is used
in the business industries for authentication purpose where it allows companies to
detect the identity of the users (Awasthi, & Srivastava, 2013). The key aim of this
research study is to describe the idea of biometric authentication and analyse the
security threats linked with the biometric authentication technology. It is identified that
the security and privacy both are very common problems that impact on the private
details of users. The main focus of this report is to evaluate the security threats
occurred in the field of biometric authentication. There are several sections will be
included in this research study such as an overview of the technology, relevant
technologies and their applications, challenges linked with biometric authentication and
gaps in the literature.
Overview of the technology
Biometric authentication refers to the security process which relies on the
unique biological characteristics of a person in order to verify their identity in an
organization or community. Such kind of information technology compares the obtained
data with the store data and confirmed authentic data in the database. Generally,
biometric authentication is utilized to control and manage the access to physical and
digital sources for example rooms, computer devices, and buildings. A recent study
identified that the use of biometric technologies are growing rapidly and many
companies are using this approach for improving the authentic process of business and
manage the confidentiality of data (Banerjee, & Woodard, 2012). It is observed that
biometric authentication is a use identifies approach which contained biological inputs
in order to analyse some part of the body.
Due to security risks biometric authentication is suffering from the cyber-attacks
and crimes as hackers can easily produce face identity which impacts on the personal
data or information of companies and consumers (Biggio, Akhtar, Fumera, Marcialis, &
Roli, 2012). Facial scanning is one of the common kinds of biometric technology which
is now used in mobile devices for protecting data of users from others. So, it is very

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important for companies to secure their private details to maintain authentication in
the system for which they design and implement a biometric authentication process.
Eye recognition is an advanced biometric technology that has the ability for providing a
high level of security to the companies and users but it is very expansive and complex
which create a problem for users.
Relevant technologies and their applications
There are various kinds of technologies used in the field of biometric
authentication which are described below along with their applications:
Fingerprint recognition technology
It is one of the oldest technologies which are used in the biometric
authentication for verifying the identity of consumers. Such kind of technology detects
the data of consumer by scanning their finger after that match with the stored data
(Chaudhry, Mahmood, Naqvi, & Khan, 2015). It is analysed that fingerprint technology
contains a fingerprint image of a user and records its features for example arches,
whorls and loops and outline of edges. There are major three processes which can be
used for performing such type of technology, for example, correlation, ridge and
minutiae.
Applications
 Unlock a mobile device
 For improving the security of data
 Airport security
 Time and attendance monitoring
 Access control in the organization
 Baking applications
Voice recognition technology
Such kind of technology is used in the business sectors for measuring the voice
patterns of an individual along with their speaking style. Voice recognition technology is
an effective process that has the potential for reducing the rate of cyber-threats over
phone calls and internet. A recent study identified that voice recognition is mainly used

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for producing speech pattern by combining both physiological and behavioural factors
which can be detected by processing the speech technology (Das, 2017).
Applications
 Solving crimes and security threats
 Protecting bank accounts
 Buying items and services
Face recognition
It is a very effective biometric technology that provides a platform to the consumers for
protecting their sensitive data from hackers. Such kind of technology is now used in
many organizations and baking sectors for verifying the users from a digital image by
analysing their patterns (He, & Wang, 2014).
Applications
 Banking sectors
 Computer applications
 Payment
 Access and security
 Criminal identification
Iris recognition technology
Iris recognition is an advanced technology which is included in the field of
biometric authentication for scanning individuals based on single patterns in the region
of ring-shaped. It is more complex and expansive technology which detects the retina
and iris of the consumers that help companies for improving the security and privacy of
their data files.
Applications
 Finance and banking sectors
 Healthcare and welfare
 Immigration and border control
 Public safety

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The challenges or problems occurred in biometric authentications
There are the following challenges and issue occurred in the field of biometric
authentication:
Biometrics authentications are not private
It is observed that biometric technology is not private as it increases the rate of
cyber-crimes and attacks in the last few years. As compared with the password based
system biometric authentication is less private and these are inherently public which
are directly associated with the user’s personal data (Jain, & Nandakumar, 2012). In the
case of fingerprint technology, someone can make fraud fingerprint and access the
personal accounts of users without their permission.
Problem of uniqueness
It is identified that one of the major issues of biometric authentication is its
uniqueness which impacts on the privacy of users (Murillo-Escobar, et al., 2015). In
such kind of technology, users scan their identity and biometric system check their data
with the stored information. So, if consumers lost their identity then they cannot find
their identity which creates a problem for companies and users.
Scanning problems
Another problem linked with the biometric technology is data capturing issue in which
biometric system cannot recognize data of some users when they scan their finger. Such
kind of issues increases due to lack of proper authentication and the biometric system is
not able to scan the identity of users in an effective manner (Odelu, Das, & Goswami,
2015).
Security issue
Security is a very common problem linked with the biometric authentication
which also increases the rate of cyber-attacks because hackers produce fraud identity of
consumers for accessing their private accounts (Ramli, Ahmad, Abdollah, & Dutkiewicz,
2013). So, it is identified that using fingerprint and other biometric technologies
companies and the individual may lose their personal data files and information.
There are few other issues occurred in biometric authentication, for example,
data breach issue, lack of proper sources, more complex while matching data of users
with the store information, more expansive which create problem of users, and

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biometric systems are hackable that may affect the security of companies (Simoens,
Bringer, Chabanne, & Seys, 2012).
Identification of gaps in the literature
It is analysed that biometric authentication is one of the common topics for
research and there are numerous authors reviewed the concept of a biometric system.
The current literature is completely based on the security and privacy concern linked
with biometric authentication (Trewin, et al., 2012). It is believed that in the current
literature the issues of security and privacy have been addressed properly because it is
very important for organizations to reduce security problems while using biometric
technologies. After analysing the current literature it is evaluated that prevention
strategies and techniques for addressing security issues linked with biometric
authentication have not been addressed which create a gap between information and
research topic. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of biometric authentication
have not been addressed which can reduce the quality of research.
According to my view, security and privacy both are very critical issues which
should be addressed on a regular basis because hackers have the potential for accessing
biometric systems and collecting data of users. So, it is very important for companies
and users to understand security risks linked with biometric technology. However, data
capturing or recognition is another issue occur in biometric authentication so, it is very
critical for users to scan their identity and recognize the fingerprint.
Future research direction
The current research provided theoretical aspects and concept of biometric
authentication. In future research, the authors will improve the efficiency of the
research and conduct a literature review for analysing opinions of other researchers.
The future research will focus on the identified gaps and reduce the drawbacks of
current research by provided in-depth analysis of biometric authentication. Moreover,
the researchers will suggest some prevention techniques for improving the security of
biometric authentication and also describe the advantages and disadvantages of
biometric technology.

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Conclusion
This research study shows the fundamental principle of biometric authentication
and identified the key features of biometric technology. From the above observation, it
is concluded that biometric authentication is an effective technology for monitoring the
identity of consumers but security is the biggest concern linked with biometric
technologies. This study discussed the various technologies involved in the biometric
authentication along with their application and highlighted the problems faced by
consumers while using biometric authentic systems. In future research, the authors will
avoid research gaps and provide several steps for improving the security of data and
biometric authentication.

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References
Awasthi, A. K., & Srivastava, K. (2013). A biometric authentication scheme for telecare
medicine information systems with a nonce. Journal of medical systems, 37(5),
9964.
Banerjee, S. P., & Woodard, D. L. (2012). Biometric authentication and identification
using keystroke dynamics: A survey. Journal of Pattern Recognition
Research, 7(1), 116-139.
Biggio, B., Akhtar, Z., Fumera, G., Marcialis, G. L., & Roli, F. (2012). Security evaluation of
biometric authentication systems under real spoofing attacks. IET
Biometrics, 1(1), 11-24.
Chaudhry, S. A., Mahmood, K., Naqvi, H., & Khan, M. K. (2015). An improved and secure
biometric authentication scheme for telecare medicine information systems
based on elliptic curve cryptography. Journal of Medical Systems, 39(11), 175.
Das, A. K. (2017). A secure and effective biometric‐based user authentication scheme for
wireless sensor networks using a smart card and fuzzy extractor. International
Journal of Communication Systems, 30(1), e2933.
He, D., & Wang, D. (2014). Robust biometrics-based authentication scheme for the
multi-server environment. IEEE Systems Journal, 9(3), 816-823.
Jain, A. K., & Nandakumar, K. (2012). Biometric Authentication: System Security and
User Privacy. IEEE Computer, 45(11), 87-92.
Murillo-Escobar, M. A., Cruz-Hernández, C., Abundiz-Pérez, F., & López-Gutiérrez, R. M.
(2015). A robust embedded biometric authentication system based on
fingerprint and chaotic encryption. Expert Systems with Applications, 42(21),
8198-8211.
Odelu, V., Das, A. K., & Goswami, A. (2015). A secure biometrics-based multi-server
authentication protocol using smart cards. IEEE Transactions on Information
Forensics and Security, 10(9), 1953-1966.

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Ramli, S. N., Ahmad, R., Abdollah, M. F., & Dutkiewicz, E. (2013). Biometric-Based
security for data authentication in wireless body area network (wban). In 2013
15th International Conference on Advanced Communications Technology (ICACT),
12(2), 998-1001.
Simoens, K., Bringer, J., Chabanne, H., & Seys, S. (2012). A framework for analyzing
template security and privacy in biometric authentication systems. IEEE
Transactions on Information forensics and security, 7(2), 833-841.
Trewin, S., Swart, C., Koved, L., Martino, J., Singh, K., & Ben-David, S. (2012). Biometric
authentication on a mobile device: a study of user effort, error and task
disruption. In Proceedings of the 28th Annual Computer Security Applications
Conference, 10(6), 159-168.