Iris Recognition Technology for Improved Authentication

One area where security can be improved is in authentication. Iris recognition, a biometric, provides one of the most secure methods of authentication and identification thanks to the unique characteristics of the iris. Once the image of the iris has been captured using a standard camera, the authentication process, involving comparing the current subject's iris with the stored version, is one of the most accurate with very low false acceptance and rejection rates. This makes the technology very useful in areas such as information security, physical access security, ATMs and airport security. The technology is accurate, easy to use, non-intrusive, difficult to forge, and, despite what people may think, is actually quite a fast system once initial enrollment has taken place. However, it does require the co-operation of the subject, needs specific hardware and software to operate and administrators need to ensure they have a fallback plan should the resources required to operate the system fail, for example, power. Iris recognition technology does provide a good method of authentication to replace the current methods of passwords, token cards or PINs and if used in conjunction with something the user knows in a two-factor authentication system then the authentication becomes even stronger.