Securing biometric templates for reliable identity authentication

Abstract

The large-scale implementation and deployment of biometric systems demand the concentration on the security holes, by which a reliable system can loose its integrity and acceptance. Like the passwords or PIN codes, biometric systems also suffer from inherent security threats and it is important to pay attention on the security issues before deploying a biometric system. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a novel chaotic encryption method to protect and secure biometric templates. To enhance the security of the templates, this research uses two chaotic maps for the encryption/decryption process. One chaotic map generates a pseudorandom sequence, which is used as private key. While on the other hand, another chaotic map encrypts the biometric data. Experimental results show that the proposed method is secure, fast, and easy to implement for achieving the security of biometric templates. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.