Biometrics

The book I read to research this post was Biometrics for Dummies by Peter Gregory et al which is an excellent book which I bought from Kindle. This book is a good introduction to a complex subject & doesn't overwhelm you with technical information but just tells you what is important to know. A lot of companies & agencies are incorporating biometrics into their computer networks. A couple of years ago I saw a biometric fingerprint mouse for £13 in an Aldi & although it's probably only suitable for home use it goes to show biometrics isn't necessarily expensive. If someone like particularly a politician tells you we need to do this, this & this & then the data will be secure, he's either lying or ill informed. Whatever measures you take there is potentially ways around it. Biometrics are primarily scanning the hand, eyes or face for recognition. If it scans fingerprints you can copy someones fingerprints onto a gelatinous solution like in Mission Impossible & sticks them onto your fingers, also if you need to you can eat the evidence. Better systems either scan the whole of the fingers & palm or the veins inside the hand. It may be possible to fool some scanners by using a model of the persons hand complete with finger & palm prints. Machines that scan the eyes can sometimes be fooled by high resolution photographs. Voice scanners are unreliable because if you have a cold for example your voice can change. Some scanners scan the ear which is unique on everyone. Facial scanners can sometimes be fooled if you have an identical twin. If you are a company if someone decides to hack your system they are much more likely to use social engineering to gain access. This can mean something like wearing overalls & pretending he's there to repair the server or pretending he's an employee who has lost his password.