Use of biometrics for user verification in electronic signature smartcards

Abstract

If a smartcard provides security functions such as electronic signature creation, valuables such as electronic money and/or sensitive data such as medical data, then the smartcard has to verify that it is used by the legitimate cardholder. For this purpose, the user has usually to present a PIN. Since smartcards become more and more powerful, it is feasible to implement on-card matching algorithms allowing to perform a biometric user verification in the smartcard.