LOGICAL ACCESS CONTROL BIOMETRICS

Logical access control Logical access control is a major area of application for biometric technology. When we say, “It’s time to kill the password,” this is the tech we’re talking about. Whether it’s securing the apps on your smartphone, gaining access to a work email or enabling an effective BYOD policy, biometric logical access control solutions can launch you into the next generation of convenience and cyber protection (Find Biometrics, n.d.).

Problems in implementing Logical Access Control Biometrics

            The increasing use of biometric systems has broad social ramifications and one overarching consideration is proportionality. While the technical and engineering aspects of a system that contribute to its effectiveness are important, it is also useful to examine whether a proposed solution is proportional and appropriate to the problem it is aimed at solving. (Wither Biometrics Committee; National Research Council, 2010).

Following are some of the problems in implementing a biometric system:

• Where biometric systems are used extensively, some members of the community may be deprived of their rights. Some individuals may not be able to enroll in a system or be recognized by it as a consequence of physical constraints, and still others may have characteristics that are not distinctive enough for the system to recognize.
• Religious beliefs about the body and sectarian jurisdiction over personal characteristics (for example, beards, headscarves) or interpersonal contact (for example, taking photographs, touching, and exposing parts of the body) may make a biometric system an unacceptable intrusion. Mandatory or strongly encouraged use of such a system may undermine religious authority and create de facto discrimination against certain groups whose members are not allowed to travel freely, take certain jobs, or obtain certain services without violating their religious beliefs.
• Another category of people who may choose not to participate are those concerned about misuse or compromise of the system or its data—and its implications for privacy and personal liberty.
• Biometric systems have the potential to collect and aggregate large amounts of information about individuals. The problems arising from aggregating information records about individuals in various information systems and the potential for linking those records through a common identifier go well beyond biometrics, and the challenges raised have been addressed extensively elsewhere.
  • Information of various kinds about individuals is routinely stored in a variety of databases. Linking such information—however imperfectly— in order to form profiles of individuals is also routinely done for purposes ranging from commercial marketing to law enforcement. The biometric data stored in information systems have the potential of becoming yet another avenue through which records within a system or across systems might be linked. This potential raises several questions: Under what circumstances is such linkage possible? If undesirable linkages are technically feasible, what technological and/or policy mechanisms would impede or prevent them? How could compliance with those mechanisms be monitored by those whose data are stored? What criteria should be used for deciding whether these mechanisms are needed? Depending on the anticipated uses of the personal data, policy and technical mechanisms may have to be put in place to prevent their unauthorized linking.
  • Some recognition systems may function at a distance, making it possible to associate actions or data with a person without that person’s explicit participation. Such tracking and collection of data has privacy implications not only for the person involved but for society as a whole. If these capabilities were to be broadly deployed, with their existence becoming broadly known and concern about their use becoming common, there would be potential distrust of the institutions that had deployed the technology. Even if knowledge of a capability is not widespread, the power that flows to those who control it may have unanticipated effects.

 

(Unfinished)

 

References

Find Biometrics. (n.d.). Logical Access Control Biometrics. Retrieved from Find Biometrics: Global Identity Management: https://findbiometrics.com/applications/logical-access-control/

Wither Biometrics Committee; National Research Council. (2010). Biometric Recognition: Challenges and Opportunities. (J. N. Pato, & L. I. Millett, Eds.) Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.