Biometric AuthenticationPeople are very security conscious these days, wanting to have everything from their identity to their home and belongings kept as safe and secure as possible. Maybe this is the reason there is so much interest in biometric authentication lately. In both 2004 and 2006, Hong Kong hosted an International Conference on Biometric Authentication so that researchers and companies that make these types of products could get together to go over recent developments and issues regarding biometrics. One type of biometric authentication is biometric signature authentication. In this authentication method, a the way a person signs their name is compared to past samples, as well as the final look of the signature, which makes this more secure than just comparing the signatures themselves. Someone might learn to create a signature that looks identical, but it is unlikely they will use the same speed, pressure and other characteristics while doing so. Biometric voice authentication is another method that can be used. This is especially useful when people need to access confidential or sensitive information over the telephone. It is even more secure if the phrase the person needs to say is a random phrase that is not known ahead of time, as this makes it almost impossible to fake. Some of the advantages of biometric authentication include not having to remember complicated passwords or carry SmartCards, having a more secure system, and having less chance of someone being able to fool the authentication system. In order to make biometric authentication even more accurate and more secure, multimodal biometric authentication can be used. By using more than one biometric characteristic, such as fingerprints and facial recognition, the already small percentage of false positives and false negatives is decreased even further. When implementing biometric authentication, be sure to research your options to determine which type of biometric authentication and which products using that method will work best for you. Cogent biometrics is one of the leading companies in the biometric authentication field. The make a wide variety of products, many of them meant for the public sector and law enforcement communities, but some of them for corporate use as well. For those who want to use biometric authentication for their computers, there are a wide variety of products made for biometric authentication in Windows systems. The majority use fingerprint or keystroke biometrics, but many are available that will work with other biometrics as well. There are even options for both home and corporate use for those interested in a biometric door lock. There are a number of different types available that use fingerprints instead of keys. You can get those with key backups or without.
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