With the numerous passwords that an individual has to remember, they are often forgotten, misplaced, or stolen. Most of the time, users end up writing down their various passwords in order to remember all of them. We have all been places where we have seen passwords written on a sticky piece of paper and attached to the side of the computer. Enforcing password policies will certainly help in controlling access to computers, but often times it is just not enough. One alternative to conventional security methods is in Biometrics.
Biometric devices use personal characteristics to verify a user's identity.
These characteristics can include face recognition, fingerprint or eye scans and voice or signature identification. Any of these traits can be used to uniquely identify an individual and could become an alternative to passwords for security. This paper will be concentrating on biometric authentication through the use of fingerprints. Authentication Identification and authentication are important aspects of security. Identification deals with recognition of a unique individual while authentication is how this identity is verified.