This mechanism adequately protects sensitive data where the impact of some improper access is not devastating to the organization. Along with knowing a user name and password, card-based systems typically require that the user also have physical possession of a card or some other type of security device before they are able to authenticate to the system. The best form of authentication is based on some physical characteristic of the individual. Devices that authenticate using physical characteristics are generally known as biometric systems since they rely on factors such as fingerprints, facial characteristics, signatures, speech patterns, retina scans, or other personal attributes to recognize the individual. While offering generally enhanced authentication security, biometric systems by themselves do not necessarily implement a perfect solution.
Some systems have yet to be proven completely reliable.
Furthermore, implementations of these systems may be vulnerable to attack at the cable that connects the biometric sensor to the computer system and possibly via a computer virus or other software running on the computer that operates the sensor. Authentication at U.Va. The most common form of authentication in use at the University is based on verification of a user s name and password. This method is reliable and sufficiently secure for most computing applications. Strong policies exist that prohibit the sharing of passwords and our computer systems ensure that users can only choose passwords that are extremely difficult to guess.