BIOMETRICS

Biometric is an automatic method of recognizing a person by physical,physiological or behavioral characteristics like finger prints,retinal scan,face recognition etc.It is widely used in financial systems, IT security,immigration,law enforcement sectors etc.It has much potentials to be used in homeland security.

It is a more accurate method of identification than the presently used password or PIN systems.People have to remember their passwords,ID proofs may be lost or stolen,PIN may be cracked.However biometrics is free from such hassles.It is fast, easy to use,reliable and accurate system.
Certain principles of biometrics

• Universality of character
• Permanent nature of character, eg- although retina scan is a very useful method, the features of retina may be changed with aging or eye diseases and thus impossible to recover the data.
• Technology must be difficult to be deceive

Apart from the above mentioned systems newly emerging biometric techniques like keystroke dynamics( here a person is recognized by his typing behaviour and speed), behaviometrics or behavioral biometrics like mouse gesture,facial thermography,vein scan are also becoming popular.However, it must be remember that, in biometrics once a character is chosen, it is not possible to replace it with another one.That has been an obstacle in the rising popularity of biometrics.