Method for identifying and/or authenticating an individual , comprising the following steps carried out by a system for identifying and/or authenticating an individual, the said system for identifying and/or authenticating an individual comprising a storage device storing at least one binary code of a reference iris, obtained from a reference iris image divided into a predetermined first number N1 of concentric rings, and one associated reference mask binary code identifying regions of the reference iris in which eyelids, eyelashes, reflections or other sources of noise have been detected: - acquiring an image of an eye of the individual to be identified and/or authenticated, - segmenting the acquired image of the eye so as to isolate a region containing the texture of the iris and to determine an associated mask, - dividing the said region containing the iris texture and the said mask into a second number N2 of concentric rings, - normalizing the said region containing the texture of the iris and the said mask from cartesian coordinates into polar coordinates, - determining a binary iris code IC having a size equal to N2*P*F encoding the said region containing the normalized texture of the iris, and a binary mask code IM having a size equal to N2*P*F encoding the associated mask, by applying a predetermined third number of Gabor filters F at each position among a predetermined fourth number P of positions in each ring, - setting each of the N2 rings of the iris of the acquired image in correspondence with the N1 rings of one of the said reference irises by the Viterbi algorithm so as to minimize a correspondence distance (HD Vlterbi ) between the acquired image and the reference image, the said correspondence distance being obtained from the determined and stored-reference iris codes and the associated mask codes by calculating a sum of distances (Dist) between each of the said N2 rings of the iris of the acquired image set in correspondence and the ring of the reference iris which corresponds thereto, - calculating the said minimized correspondence distance, - identifying and/or authenticating the individual if the said minimized correspondence distance is less than a predetermined threshold. - acquiring an image of an eye of the individual to be identified and/or authenticated, - segmenting the acquired image of the eye so as to isolate a region containing the texture of the iris and to determine an associated mask, - dividing the said region containing the iris texture and the said mask into a second number N2 of concentric rings, - normalizing the said region containing the texture of the iris and the said mask from cartesian coordinates into polar coordinates, - determining a binary iris code IC having a size equal to N2*P*F encoding the said region containing the normalized texture of the iris, and a binary mask code IM having a size equal to N2*P*F encoding the associated mask, by applying a predetermined third number of Gabor filters F at each position among a predetermined fourth number P of positions in each ring, - setting each of the N2 rings of the iris of the acquired image in correspondence with the N1 rings of one of the said reference irises by the Viterbi algorithm so as to minimize a correspondence distance (HD Vlterbi ) between the acquired image and the reference image, the said correspondence distance being obtained from the determined and stored-reference iris codes and the associated mask codes by calculating a sum of distances (Dist) between each of the said N2 rings of the iris of the acquired image set in correspondence and the ring of the reference iris which corresponds thereto, - calculating the said minimized correspondence distance, - identifying and/or authenticating the individual if the said minimized correspondence distance is less than a predetermined threshold. <EOS>