Security of Biometric Systems

The main contributions of the thesis are two novel approaches for the increase of securing of biometric systems based on fingerprint recognition. The first approach is within the liveness detection and prevents the use of various fake fingers and other spoofing techniques during the capturing processes. This patented approach is based on a combination of change of papillary line color and width caused by pressing of a finger against glass plate. The resultant liveness detection unit can be integrated into an optical fingerprint sensor. The second approach is within standardization and it increases the security and interoperability of minutiae extraction and comparison process. For this purposes, I have created the methodology to determine semantic conformance rates of minutiae extractors. The minutiae extracted by the tested extractors are compared against Ground-Truth-Minutiae obtained by clustering of data provided by dactyloscopic/forensic experts. This proposed methodology is included in the ISO/IEC 29109-2 Amd. 2 WD4.