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Biometric Authentication - Iris
The iris parallels fingerprints in its uniqueness. The statistical probability that two irises from different would be exactly the same is estimated at 1 in 1072. Thus use of the iris in authentication is one of the best ways of meeting high risk situations.
Iris recognition software is currently in wide use at Canadian-US airport borders. It is also widely used at many airports in Europe and the Middle East as well as many other industries for doing authentication access. There are however several challenges when deploying iris biometrics for authentication.
The implementation cost of biometric authentication is high to very high. Specialized iris scanners need to be installed at each access point. User registration can take time to accomplish. The distance between the user and the iris scanner is critical, often times creating frustrated users who misjudge the distance. User wariness often increases when asked for an eye scan since they are worried about what the scanner might do to their eyes. Maintenance of the iris scanners can often be expensive too.
Iris biometric authentication should be considered for high risk situations. Low to medium risk authentications should probably use other biometric and multi-factor authentication methods.
The registration process for iris is very important. When the iris scan is done in the presence of an enterprise employee, the chance that the person is who they claim to be is very high. However, if the iris scan is done remotely, then the certainty the enterprise can apply to the authentication is lower. The reason for this is the enterprise is not in direct control of the authentication hardware, watching the person authenticate and not neceassarily in control of the network connection. Therefore, in remote situations, multi-factor authentication is required.
A recent study by NIST (April 2112) evalutes 92 different iris algorithms and is an excellent read.
Recently portalbe iris readers have been introduced (Eyelock).
However, there have been reports that iris scanners can be fooled. Caveat emptor.
Resources:
Wikipedia Iris Recognition
ISO standards for IRIS data
Biometric Authentication:
Voice Authentication
Face Authentication
Fingerscan Authentication
Iris Authentication
Password Authentication Single Sign On Authentication Access Control Authentication Authentication-Enterprise Security Authentication Strength Authentication Transaction
Authentication Management User Authentication Authentication Federation Biometric Authentication PKI Authentication Token Authentication Wireless Authentication Document Authentication Authentication - Outsourcing
