Biometric Access Control - Your Finger is the Key to Crime Prevention

Biometric Identification has been around for many years. In the beginning, it was extremely expensive and cost prohibitive and would only be found in the highest security applications. Since 9/11, biometric readers have become increasingly popular and subsequently more cost effective.

Current Biometric Readers include Hand Geometry, Fingerprint, Iris Scan, Passive Facial Recognition, Active Infrared Facial Recognition, Voice Pattern Recognition and blood vessel authentication.

Biometric readers can be stand alone, networked or part of a large P.C. based solution, but no matter which technology is being utilized, each biometric reader will require that a baseline template be provided for comparison purposes. This means a couple of things.

* Each and every person must enroll in the system to create a baseline template
* Every template needs to be stored for comparison either in the computer software or at the reader

The first biometric readers were standalone controllers that stored all of the templates at the reader itself. When a person presented their "credential", whether it was a finger, hand or iris, it needed to be compared to the "template" as stored in the reader. In the case of multiple users, this became a ?one to many? comparison and the reader had to search through its library of templates until it found one that matched. In larger systems with multiple users, this could take several seconds before a match was confirmed.

To speed up the process, manufacturers started storing the biometric templates on central computers that could sort through the templates faster and provide a quicker match.

Eventually, someone came up with the brilliant idea that a ?one to one? comparison would be much quicker than a ?one to many? comparison and require less processing time. Keypads were added to the readers and users were issued Personal Identification Numbers (PIN?s) that essentially called up their template for an immediate ?one to one? comparison.

This simple innovation made biometric readers capable of much faster throughput times and therefore more widely accepted. No longer were there lines at the reader waiting to get in.

Off course, we live in America, and people are very concerned with their personal privacy. An employer storing your biometric information is dangerous, right...Not to mention that storing individual biometric templates on a computer takes up a lot of room on a server.

Security Equipment Manufacturers have solved this dilemma with the advent of smart card technology. Highly popular in Europe and Asia, smart cards are making a strong impact in America. Manufacturers have begun building proximity non-contact type cards that transfer bi-directional data utilizing radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.

Smart cards are in essence read/writable data chips that are used to store and transfer information. Some of them are capable of holding up to 16-kilobits of data that can only be accessed by readers through the use of a 64-bit encrypted "key". This recent innovation provides highly secure credentials for access control systems without the need to store and transfer biometric templates for each person enrolled into the system.

You now enroll and carry your identification templates around with you on your own RFID Proximity Smart Card. The readers download the template from your card and compare it to your fingerprint, Iris, or whatever credential you are using for verification.

If they match, and you have access to the door, it unlocks. You see, your finger really can be the key?.

Roy Stephenson is a Security Consultant with over 21 Years Experience Designing and Installing High End Integrated Security Systems. He is currently the VP of Marketing at http://www.Security-Kits.Com

Access Control List in .

BalajiAccess Control List in .NET Framework

Once you complete developing a web application, you need to secure it. This is when the aspect of security comes into picture. There will be some portions of your application which need to be secured from users. Securing an application may need extra hardware to build complex multi-layer systems with firewalls, and also some highly secure features. Security enables you to provide access to a specified user after the user is authenticated and authorized to access the resources in your web application. The Access Control List is used in the authorization process.

The basic concepts of security are Authentication, Authorization, Impersonation and Data or functional security. Authentication is the process that enables to identify a user, so that only that user is provided access to the resources. Authorization is the process that enables to determine whether a particular user can be given access to the resources that the user requests. Impersonation is the process that provides access to resources requested by a user under a different identity. Data or functional security is the process of securing a system physically, updating the operating system and using robust software.

Some elements of an operating system, the Internet Information Server (IIS), and the .NET Framework work in coordination to provide the features required to execute the security concepts mentioned above. For example, Windows 2000 uses its own list of user accounts for identifying and authenticating users. IIS identifies the users based on the information provided by Windows, when the users access a web site. IIS after identification of the users, passes this information to ASP.NET. Then the user information is checked for authorization.

To restrict access to the users for certain resources of an application, a process of identifying the users becomes a necessity. Authentication enables to restrict a user to access the resources by certain ways. It could be a combination of a username and password, a digital certificate, a smart card or a fingerprint reader. The validity of the information provided by the user helps identify the user, so that the user is provided access to the requested resources. The process of successful identification of the user implies that the user is authenticated.

After identification of the user is over, the next step is to determine whether the authenticated user has access to the resources. The process of determining the access to the resources for a particular user is known as Authorization. In Windows based systems, resources have an Access Control List, which provides a list of users who have access to that resource. The list also specifies the kind of access such as read, write, modify, and delete the resource, for each user. For example, if a user requests an ASP page, the operating system checks whether the user has Read access to the page and if the user has read permission, then the operating system allows the IIS to fetch the page. The IIS has authorization settings which enable the IIS to control the access of resources by users. File Access Control Lists are set for a given file or directory using the Security tab in the Explorer property page.

To access online version of the above article, go to http://www.dotnet-guide.com/accesscontrol.html

Once you complete developing a web application, you need to secure it. This is when the aspect of security comes into picture. There will be some portions of your application which need to be secured from users. Securing an application may need extra hardware to build complex multi-layer systems with firewalls, and also some highly secure features. Security enables you to provide access to a specified user after the user is authenticated and authorized to access the resources in your web application. The Access Control List is used in the authorization process.

The basic concepts of security are Authentication, Authorization, Impersonation and Data or functional security. Authentication is the process that enables to identify a user, so that only that user is provided access to the resources. Authorization is the process that enables to determine whether a particular user can be given access to the resources that the user requests. Impersonation is the process that provides access to resources requested by a user under a different identity. Data or functional security is the process of securing a system physically, updating the operating system and using robust software.

Some elements of an operating system, the Internet Information Server (IIS), and the .NET Framework work in coordination to provide the features required to execute the security concepts mentioned above. For example, Windows 2000 uses its own list of user accounts for identifying and authenticating users. IIS identifies the users based on the information provided by Windows, when the users access a web site. IIS after identification of the users, passes this information to ASP.NET. Then the user information is checked for authorization.

To restrict access to the users for certain resources of an application, a process of identifying the users becomes a necessity. Authentication enables to restrict a user to access the resources by certain ways. It could be a combination of a username and password, a digital certificate, a smart card or a fingerprint reader. The validity of the information provided by the user helps identify the user, so that the user is provided access to the requested resources. The process of successful identification of the user implies that the user is authenticated.

After identification of the user is over, the next step is to determine whether the authenticated user has access to the resources. The process of determining the access to the resources for a particular user is known as Authorization. In Windows based systems, resources have an Access Control List, which provides a list of users who have access to that resource. The list also specifies the kind of access such as read, write, modify, and delete the resource, for each user. For example, if a user requests an ASP page, the operating system checks whether the user has Read access to the page and if the user has read permission, then the operating system allows the IIS to fetch the page. The IIS has authorization settings which enable the IIS to control the access of resources by users. File Access Control Lists are set for a given file or directory using the Security tab in the Explorer property page.

To access online version of the above article, go to http://www.dotnet-guide.com/accesscontrol.html

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