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Biometrics - Finger Print Readers

Biometric finger print readers & scanners offer an opportunity to significantly increase the security of an access control installation, and as costs reduce and performance increases more end-users are expressing an interest in using such readers. At the present time, in the markets where Biometrics is active, the main interest is in fingerprint recognition. This seems to be the most popular in terms of cost, performance and user acceptability. There are two types of fingerprint reader - optical and electrostatic. There are differences in cost, performance, long-term reliability, ability to reject dead fingers and prosthetic substitutes etc. and naturally different costs apply to different offerings.

 

Most biometric readers require the person to first “declare” who they are, so that their template can be retrieved from memory. This is because searching for a match from all the stored templates would be time-consuming.

This “declaration” is often simply done by PIN entry at a built-in keypad. But extra security can be derived by using a card - because that establishes that the right person has the right card, and therefore when that card is subsequently used in non-biometric readers on the same site, it is more likely that the card will still be with the correct owner. For this to work properly, the biometric reader must "pass through" the card number UNCHANGED when the biometric has been matched.

 

Reliability - Reliability is usually measured in terms of "false accept" versus "false reject". Usually the reader can be "tuned" to suit the required security "confidence" level. BUT there is no system which will guarantee never to reject an authorised person - which means the end user has to have a method in place for getting those people through the door (i.e Security Guard or Receptionist) - in which case why have a reader at all? Manufacturers TDSi believe that many people who ask for biometrics are unaware of this aspect, and that once the system was installed this would give rise to complaints. Such systems are only appropriate for the highest security, where it is acceptable that some people will be inconvenienced. Fingerprints in particular can occasionally suffer from minor scratches and abrasions making them less reliable until healed.

 
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