Biometrics

As explained in Data-Driven Cybersecurity

An authentication method that identifies a person using distinctive physiological or behavioral characteristics.

Biometric authentication identifies people through distinctive physiological characteristics, such as fingerprints, facial recognition, or retinal scans. It is one option among authentication mechanisms that also include passwords and passwordless technologies. section 7.1.1

A biometric system must balance security and usability. False rejections can frustrate legitimate users, while false acceptances can create security vulnerabilities. Reviewing both measures helps teams assess system performance. section 8.5.5

Improving access at DataSecure

DataSecure, a financial services company, analyzed its biometric system’s error patterns and recalibrated sensitivity thresholds. It also introduced machine learning algorithms and monitored results. Monthly false rejections fell from 150 to 30, and the false rejection rate dropped from 3% to 0.5%; false acceptance rates also decreased. section 8.5.5

Figure 8.5 The left side shows DataSecure, Inc. FRR, FAR, and EES dashboard before implementing improvements. The right side shows improvements after reducing both false rejection and false acceptance rates.

Compare the dashboard before and after the system changes to see the reported improvements in false rejection and false acceptance rates. section 8.5.5

How Data-Driven Cybersecurity covers it

How deep it goes

Explains biometric identifiers and illustrates metric-based recalibration, but does not detail system implementation.

Examples

Uses fingerprints, facial recognition, retinal scans, and DataSecure’s before-and-after authentication results.

What you can do after

Diagnose and improve biometric access by analyzing false rejections and acceptances, recalibrating thresholds, and monitoring results.

How it connects

Connects biometrics with authentication, passwords, passwordless technologies, false rejection rates, and false acceptance rates.

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Also explained in

• 

  liveBookmanning.com
  Software Security for DevelopersBiometric data is information representing measurable physical or behavioral characteristics of a person for identification or authentication.
• 

  liveBookmanning.com
  Introduction to Generative AI, Second EditionBiometric analysis examines distinctive biological or behavioral characteristics, including facial movements, speech cadence, and vocal patterns.

Compare how 3 books explain biometrics →

Related concepts

• palm-vein scanningincludes · Palm-vein scanning is biometric authentication or identification based on vein patterns inside a person's palm, typically captured with infrared sensors.
• speech recognitionincludes · Speech recognition is the computational conversion of spoken language from audio into a machine-readable representation, typically text.
• passwordless authenticationkind of · Passwordless authentication is an authentication method that verifies a user’s identity without requiring a conventional password.
• WebAuthnpart of · WebAuthn is a web authentication standard and browser API that enables public-key authentication using credentials managed by platform or external authenticators.
• authenticationkind of · Authentication is the process of establishing or verifying the identity of a user, service, device, or other communicating entity.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Data-Driven Cybersecurity. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.