The principle of biometrics is to use some unique characteristic to identify whether the person is who they say they are. Biometrics works by matching or verifying a person's unique traits with stored data in two categories: physiological characteristics and those that are behavioral. Physical indicators include iris, fingerprint, facial, or hand geometry. Behavior types are usually voiceprints, keystroke dynamics and handwritten signatures. Most biometric technologies require special hardware to convert analog measurements of signatures, voices, or patterns of fingerprints and palm prints, to digital measurement, which computers can read. The biggest characteristic and problem of biometric implementations today is the accuracy, we must see the level of accuracy before buying a solution, because the technology is not perfect at this time and it can be erroneous sometimes.

Memory Only Card - This type of card is the most common card. It has a magnetic stripe on the back. These cards can offer two-factor authentication, the card itself (something you have) and the PIN (something you know). Everyone is familiar with the use of an ATM (Automated Teller Machine) card. These memory cards are very easy to counterfeit. There was a case in Montreal where a storeowner would swipe the card through for the transaction; he would then swipe it through a card reader to get a copy, while a small hidden camera was registering the PIN as the user was punching it on the pad. This scheme was quickly identified as the victims had one point in common; they all visited the same store.

TBSEC provides guidelines to be used with evaluating a security product. The TBSEC guidelines address basic security functionality and allow evaluators to measure and rate the functionality of a system and how trustworthy it is. Functionality and assurance are combined and not separated, as in criteria developed later. TCSEC guidelines can be used for evaluating vendor products or by vendors to design necessary functionality into new products. CISSP Study Guide by Tittel pg. 413.

Section: Security Operations