Biometric Authentication: Emerging Prospects and Persistent Challenges

Conventional methods of cryptography for user authentication were based on public or private keys, which are shared between the communicating parties. Authentication and identification based on keys presented many issues such as key scan be lost during transit or may be stolen and thus were replaced with the behavioral individuality of users which incorporated fingerprints retina identification and facial recognition known as biometrics system. In this paper, an emphasis is laid down on the biometric authentication system and its architecture including opportunities and challenges for adopting it as one of the primary authentication tool in offices, institutes, organizations and other related companies. A comparison has been made between various biometric factors and further it is compared with smart cards and passwords. Various biometric metric has been studied which are required for measuring biometric performance.