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Selecting a biometric technology? Just follow the signs!

Worldwide, the acceptance of biometrics, and specifically fingerprint identification technology, is growing at a phenomenal rate.

In a report conducted by the International Biometric Group (IBG), global industry revenues are expected to reach $4,04 billion by the end of 2007, driven by large-scale public sector biometric deployments and standardised biometric infrastructures.

With an ever-increasing number of vendors and techniques in the biometric market, customers are faced with the daunting task of selecting a technology that will work accurately and consistently in their unique environment. On the face of it, many biometric technologies appear to work very well, but more often than not, these technologies fall far short of their promises when put to the test in the real world.

Automation

The concept of automated biometric systems is by no means a new one. Police and forensics departments such as the FBI have been using the technology successfully for over 20 years. While many biometric technologies have seen gradual improvement and refinement over the years, one major change factor is having a very significant impact on the perception of biometrics.

Today, the sheer number and variety of potential new users of the technology means that mistakes due to poor technology decisions are bound to happen.

Fortunately there is a wealth of openly available information on the usage and suitability of various biometric technologies across a wide variety of industries and applications.

In particular forensic and government organisations most dependent on biometric data have spent substantial time and energy researching different technologies as well as investing billions of dollars in their chosen solutions. This, combined with the fact that they typically handle very large databases with many millions of persons, means that the technology really does get pushed to its limits. So what can we learn from these experiences?

On the local front

In South Africa, the application of biometrics is set to grow to unprecedented heights due to the heavy investment committed to the technology by various governmental departments. South Africa is leading the way in the adoption of biometric-based civilian and criminal applications.

In October 2006, the Ideco Group completed the world's largest back record conversion (BRC) of over 32 million paper-based fingerprint records to digital format for the Department of Home Affairs.

Vhonani Mufamadi, CEO of the Ideco Group, says, "Sequencing the largest conversion of fingerprint records in the world was a pioneering venture in South Africa and its success has created an identity management revolution. We have opened the door into a new era of managing national biometric ID cards, passports, immigration, border control, driver's licences and pensions."

Since 2001, the South African Police Service (SAPS) has utilised a Sagem AFIS (automated fingerprint identification system) to manage the country's criminal fingerprint and palmprint database. Sagem's MorphoTouch and RapID technology is also used by the SAPS to target and capture wanted criminals. Hundreds of these portable readers are being used at road blocks to identify criminals quickly and accurately. "Since AFIS was commissioned in 2001, Sagem fingerprint technology has become a powerful tool in the fight against crime," says Mufamadi.

The Ideco Group is also involved in one of the most significant security advances in South Africa's criminal justice system: the application of Sagem fingerprint technology to secure the national integrated justice system (IJS). Over 1000 Sagem fingerprint readers with Sagem-exclusive fake finger detection (FFD) functionality are used by the South African Police Service (SAPS) for logical access control. These ultra-secure fingerprint readers are used specifically in forensic laboratories; the logistics departments; the firearm licensing department and the stolen vehicle department to secure sensitive information.

Since 1997 Sagem's fingerprint technology has also been successfully used to verify the identity of pensioners for the payment of approximately 4 million pensions and social grants every month. This is one of the harshest environments in which one can deploy fingerprint biometrics as age is a major factor affecting the quality of fingerprints.

Understanding biometrics

It is clear from the South African example, and the worldwide market share of fingerprint technology, that this is a solution that really works. So why then are there so many horror stories in the market about failed attempts to use fingerprint biometrics for applications as seemingly simple as access control and time and attendance?

Sadly most of these horror stories are true. Today decision makers are often faced with a multitude of quotations or proposals, all offering fingerprint technology. All too often price is the determining factor when decisions are made. On paper one fingerprint scanner may seem just as good as the next. After all they all just read fingerprints, do they not?

What many people do not realise is that nothing counts more than experience when it comes to biometrics. When one considers the billions of people that make up the world's population and the fact that they can all be uniquely identified through the small area of a fingerprint, one begins to realise the minute differences that distinguish one person from the next. In addition when the integrity of this information is jeopardised through the introduction of dirt, damage or ageing, the sheer number of anomalies and variables increases exponentially.

This is why the world's leading biometric vendors are those few which have been in the industry for decades and have had the opportunity to test, prove and refine their algorithms on billions of biometric samples.

Due to the rapid adoption and demand for biometrics in South Africa, unproven experimental biometric technology is literally being dumped in the South African market. This technology is plagued by stability and accuracy issues, and more often than not is not backed up by a proper distribution and support channel.

Fortunately, as is the case with large-scale government users worldwide, thousands of clients across all major market sectors such as mining, manufacturing, retail, banking, agriculture and many more, have realised that careful research and thorough testing can lead to very positive results.

Not only is South Africa a global leader in the adoption of biometric technology for national government systems, but also in the use of biometrics for physical and logical access control and time and attendance monitoring. In South Africa the dominance of fingerprint-based solutions in government is mirrored by the dominance of fingerprint biometrics in commercial applications. And once again the signs are there; there is very clearly a convergence toward the world's leading fingerprint biometric technology, and the results speak for themselves.

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