Fujitsu has developed a new method of encrypting biometric data, the company has announced. Representatives discussed the technology today at the International Symposium on Foundations & Practice of Security (FPS 2015) in France.
In essence, it’s a simple concept: Fujitsu’s system converts biometric data into randomized numbers, making a cryptographic key. While other such systems are already emerging from other companies and researchers, Fujitsu’s is unique in that its use of randomized numbers for encryption means that when a cryptographic key is being decrypted, the process is performed against the randomized numbers, rather than the encryption biometric data itself. In other words, the randomized code coming out is compared to the randomized code that went in, eliminating the need to authenticate against the user’s biometric data itself. Moreover, Fujitsu’s system implements sophisticated error-correcting technology allowing matching cryptographic data to be used for authentication even if there are slight variations from the initial biometric inputs.
Fujitsu’s technology could help to resolve a major concern about biometric authentication – that a user’s biometric data itself could be intercepted during transmission. Fujitu’s system would ostensibly allow biometric data to be transmitted with a vastly lower risk of interception.
While this technology offers benefits to the industry at large, Fujitsu stands to gain as well. The company has invested considerable R&D into its own biometric technologies, specializing in the area of palm vein biometrics for a range of authentication and identification applications.
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October 26, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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