Multimedia content protection via biometrics-based encryption

We propose a multimedia content protection framework that is based on biometric data of the users and a layered encryption/decryption scheme. Password-only encryption schemes are vulnerable to illegal key exchange problems. By using biometric data along with hardware identifiers as keys, it is possible to alleviate fraudulent usage of protected content. A combination of symmetric and asymmetric key systems is utilized for this purpose. The computational requirements and applicability of the proposed method are addressed. The results of encryption and decryption experiments related to time measurements are included. Watermarking systems can be used to complement the proposed method to permit novel uses of protected multimedia data.