Patent ID: 6941462

Claim:
An authentication system used when stored information is manipulated, comprising: a host computer comprising: input means for inputting a user's instruction; command output means for generating from the user's instruction an instruction command which requests a predetermined processing to be executed and for outputting the instruction command; and communication means for communicating with an external unit; and a fingerprint identification apparatus comprising: communication means for communicating with said host computer; processing control means for executing a predetermined processing according to the instruction command input from said host computer by said communication means; fingerprint detection means for detecting a fingerprint and for generating fingerprint data; storage-information recording means for recording the fingerprint data and storage information related to the fingerprint data; and fingerprint identification means for verifying fingerprint data detected by said fingerprint detection means with the fingerprint data recorded by said storage-information recording means, wherein said storage-information recording means stores a private key generated by the public-key encryption method, wherein said processing control means accesses the generated private key, decrypts a symmetric key, and decrypts the encrypted text using the decrypted symmetric key when the user's instruction specifies a decryption of an encrypted text, wherein said processing control means generates a symmetric key and a public key to encrypt the symmetric key when the user's instruction specifies an encryption of plain text, and wherein the user's instruction is send from the host computer through communication cable.