A practical challenge for iris authentication on handheld imaging devices

Following on the introduction of fingerprint biometrics, iris authentication for handheld imaging devices has become a hot research topic. However widespread adoption of this technology faces a significant challenge as personal iris data for a significant proportion of the population can be extracted from high-quality images and the growth in image sharing and the creation of online personal photographic albums creates a significant security risk. In this paper we present an overview of the problem and a potential solution - iris obfuscation when images are acquired. Challenges to implementing a practical obfuscation technology are discussed and approaches to overcome these are explored.