Improving the binding of electronic signatures to the signer by biometric authentication

Abstract

Due to the fact that the biometric characteristics of a person are bound to that person, biometric methods deployed for signer authentication have the potential of improving the binding of electronic signatures to persons. If there is evidence that a biometric method was used for signer authentication, and if the level of security of this method is sufficiently high, then the receiver of a signed document can trust that the signature creation was indeed initiated by the legitimate holder of the private signature key. To achieve this goal, an approach to provide evidence of the use of biometric signer authentication has been developed. The approach has been implemented in a prototype electronic signature creation system with fingerprint verification. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.