Underlying science behind biometrics required more rigor, report says.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SECURITYBEAT

The biometrics industry has seen rapid growth in the post-9/11 world with numerous companies touting products that they say can confirm a subject's identity based on his physical or behavioral characteristics with reasonable accuracy.

The physical measurements range from finger and palm prints, to irises, facial and speech recognition and other modes. Behavior can derive from the way a person types to the way he walks.

But none of these methods is infallible, and much of the underlying basic research that can confirm the utility of the devices has not been carried out said a National Academy of Sciences report "Biometric Recognition: Challenges and Opportunity." This is occurring even as the technologies are becoming more ubiquitous, it added.

"Users and developers of biometric systems should recognize and take into account the limitations and constraints of biometric systems--especially the probabilistic nature of the underlying science," the report said.

Because a person's physical traits change over time, or can be intentionally altered in ways to fool a machine that reads them, no single method for collecting, analyzing and confirming whether the subject is who in says he is, can be...