Biometric Authentication Systems: A Comprehensive Review of Modalities, Security Vulnerabilities, and Future Trends

International Journal of Computer Science and Technology | Vol. 9, No. 6, June 2007 | pp. 41–48

DOI: 10.46882/2007/IJCST/096003

Review Article

Title: Biometric Authentication Systems: A Comprehensive Review of Modalities, Security Vulnerabilities, and Future Trends

Names of Authors: Elena R. Vasilyeva¹

Authors’ Affiliations: ¹Faculty of Information Security, Saint Petersburg National Research University, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Abstract: Biometric technologies have shifted from niche security systems to mainstream modalities for identity verification across consumer electronics, banking, and border control. This review article provides an exhaustive critical analysis of physiological and behavioral biometric modalities, including fingerprint, iris, facial geometry, voiceprint, and keystroke dynamics. The paper systematically categorizes prevalent security vulnerabilities, focusing on presentation attacks, spoofing methods, and template database tampering. Furthermore, we evaluate recent state-of-the-art countermeasures, such as hardware-based and software-based liveness detection mechanisms. Comparative performance analysis across the modalities highlights that iris recognition maintains the lowest False Match Rate (FMR < 0.0001%), though it requires expensive specialized capture hardware. Conversely, facial recognition shows widespread consumer adoption but remains more susceptible to lighting variations and aging factors, exhibiting a baseline False Non-Match Rate (FNMR) variance of ±2.3% across varying operational conditions. Finally, the paper discusses emergent paradigms in biometric cryptography and cancelable biometrics designed to safeguard user privacy against systemic database breaches.

Keywords: Biometric authentication, liveness detection, security vulnerabilities, spoofing countermeasures, false match rate, template protection

Manuscript Timeline: Received March 3, 2007; Revised April 20, 2007; Accepted May 14, 2007; Published June 12, 2007

Citation: Vasilyeva, E. R. (2007). Biometric Authentication Systems: A Comprehensive Review of Modalities, Security Vulnerabilities, and Future Trends. International Journal of Computer Science and Technology, 9(6), 41–48.

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