Erica Rietveld has worked within the IT governance field and has handled complex business processes and IT architecture over the past twenty years. Over the years, she has seen the use of biometrics evolve into its current role: a key access-control mechanism and an invaluable public safety tool. She believes biometrics systems will be increasingly used in the near future as the development of technology facilitates and accelerates the data management process.
She works at the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), which wields a variety of biometric data collection methods including handwriting recognition, fingerprint, facial recognition, iris scan, hand scan, and voice recognition.
“Last couples of years, we have more emphasis on digital materials like audio, video, and automated recognition,” Rietveld says. Research in the field, related legislation, better algorithms and the increasing capacity of hardware will have to be brought together for a seamless system, according to her.
BIOMETRICS IN CRIME SOLVING
The process of verification of identity has undergone a transformation because of rapid advances in biometrics technology, and the NFI is at the forefront of this revolution. It uses facial geometry scanners to read and plot features of the person’s face and transfer these points into a database. An algorithm devised to process the data then makes meaningful conclusions and recognises and catalogues patterns that might prove useful. Then, facial comparisons can be made quickly to find matches and verify identities.
The NFI uses a variety of media and methods to solve cases, including analysing threat letters for handwriting, and identifying the type of document and paper used.
“DNA data, especially, can be very useful, even if it can be collected from a stamp on an envelope,” Rietveld reveals. The NFI will gather samples or traces of human tissue, use fingerprint information, and combine them into one investigation.
Rietveld adds that the NFI has been asked to compare tapes for voice recognition and images from robberies. She comments that it is always difficult to identify the person, but a simple and basic piece of information like how tall the person is can sometimes require quite a bit of analysis.
RELIABILITY AND ACCURACY OF DATA
According to Rietveld, biometric data still have some way to go—especially in law enforcement—before they can be used in real-world settings with a high degree of reliability. Material from automated system cannot always be used in forensic work as the reliability of the conclusion is not adequately high and the interpretation of the result is unsubstantiated, at least according to the legal standards of proof and guarantee in most countries.
“It provides indication, but never a proof!” exclaims Rietveld.
She expresses concerns over key security issues in adopting biometrics, including verifying identity, valuing evidence, and the possibility of prints and images being distorted.
“The impression of the same finger can be quite dissimilar due to elastic distortion of the skin, and/or the shape of the surface. Similar to facial recognition from images, the proportions of the same face may look different due to distance from the camera and characteristics of the camera lens,” she says.
Rietveld adds that every type of fingerprint scanner can also be easily spoofed by using gelatine, and are they is sensitive to dirt.
According to the NFI’s research, even the relatively new and advanced biometric tools such as iris scanning can be spoofed by photo prints with holes in them and specially-designed contact lenses. Hand scanners are considered low security level devices, while voice and handwriting recognition require controlled environments for accurate results.
Biometrics cannot precisely identify a person, Rietveld points out. “They rather show the probability of the person owning the source of a set of biometric data.” Deciding the person’s identity implies the assessment of the correctness of a document linked to the person without the subject of biometrics, and the correctness and value of the biometric match, she explains.
“If a fraud is successful once, it may have administrative consequences, and you cannot adjust your biometrics at that point,” she says.
The CHALLENGE OF UNCONTROLLED ENVIRONMENTS
Effective use of biometrics requires appropriate surroundings. According to Rietveld, a biometric system may not work under general surveillance CCTV, but the same scheme might be quite reliable under controlled environments such as at immigration counters, where travelers are told exactly how to look at the camera.
Nevertheless, the deployment of biometrics for border control still encounters some challenges. “There will always be the problem that some people do look alike. So, whatever you do or however good the technology is, you will always have a certain level of uncertainty,” she adds. Additionally, circumstances in the field, where the technologies need to be deployed, are often chaotic and sub-optimal.
“There is never a 100 per cent positive, not even when it comes to DNA, but there may be a 100 per cent negative, giving rise to definite exclusion,” Rietveld explains.
She also says that the public application of biometrics in uncontrolled settings is very difficult, especially when the authorities have to combine the result with a large database. “You have to compare people that you did not previously know coming into an environment where you cannot exactly define how they will be photographed or filmed: you have different lighting, they were wearing caps, sunglasses and all kind of things.”
“You have to compare it with a large database with a million or five million faces in there: it just won’t work,” she says.
Concerns in Applicability
Rietveld concludes that the use of biometrics needs to be conducted carefully with regards to the issue of reliability, validity and accuracy, and with acceptance level of false positives and negatives taken into account.
According to the NFI’s study, there are some limitations of biometric adoption in addition to those concerning absolute identification: biometric characteristics are not secret and cannot be changed when there is a problem.
Technology and organisational efficiency will also play crucial role in the further use of biometrics to avoid attacks and misuse of databases. Noise in sensors, spoofing and mimicry attacks, poor quality administrative procedures, injection of in central storage, and the system being hacked can all contribute to inaccuracies, or at worst, lead to total shut-down..
As biometrics is being used increasingly for vulnerable procedures in the public and private sector, the reliability of biometric security applications is another essential issue, comments Rietveld. “We need to be aware of biometric principles and pitfalls to build good systems and to use them wisely,” she says.
INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION
The NFI also shares some biometric information and algorithms to support international cases and is currently planning to trade its knowledge either through a barter exchange of information or in exchange for research funds.
She explains that the NFI releases its software as open source for co-development, as it believes that by working together with others, it can make better tools. “We can also provide our software to our colleagues abroad and either they pay us or they give us back something we want. So, we make a barter deal.”
The NFI is very new to the commoditising of knowledge. “We will never do that for profit, we do not have to,” she says and adds that the commercial plan is simply to finance further research.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Thanya Kunakornpaiboonsiri
Quelle/Source: futureGov, 11.01.2013
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