Title: Biometric Access Controls
Course: IN 2001 Principle of Information Assurance > Section: Module 7: Chapter Seven

Biometric Access Controls

1. Biometric Access controls use biometric data (retina, fingerprint, palm print, etc.) as part of the identification process.

Effectiveness of Biometrics
1. Biometric technologies are evaluated on three basic criteria:
  - The false reject rate: The rate at which supplicants who are authentic users are denied or prevented access to authorized areas as a result of a failure in the biometric device (Type I error)
  - The false accept rate: The rate at which supplicants who are not legitimate users are allowed access to systems or areas as a result of a failure in the biometric device (Type II error)
  - The crossover error rate (CER): The level at which the number of false rejections equals the number of false acceptances (equal error rate).  This is the most common and important overall measure of the accuracy of a biometric system

Acceptability of Biometrics
1. A balance must be struck between how acceptable a security system is to its users and how effective it is in maintaining security.
2. Many of the biometric systems that are highly reliable and effective are considered somewhat intrusive to users.
3. As a result, many information security professionals, in an effort to avoid confrontation and possible user boycott of the biometric controls, do not implement them.