Biometrics for Identity Management

Elisabeth de Leeuw
Business Consultant Security and Identity Management

Contribution to:

Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security

Tilborg, Henk C.A. van; Jajodia, Sushil (Eds.)
2nd ed., 2011, Approx. 1500 p. eReference. In 2 volumes, not available separately.
ISBN: 978-1-4419-5906-5
Due: June 2011
http://www.springer.com/computer/security+and+cryptology/book/978-1-4419-5906-5

Related Concepts
Biometrics

Background
Identification processes are crucial to identity management. Biometrics may play a role
in identification processes and in identity management as a whole. This entry describes
the role biometrics can play, or may play in the future, as well as possible issues
connected to it.

(…)

Open Problems
Biometrics in National Identity Management

(…)

Besides, in the context of national identity management, function creep is a risk. In the
last years, governments have built or extended many central databases that hold
information on many aspects of the lives of citizens, biometrics included. This tendency is
subject to criticism. In 2009, Ross Anderson, in a report titled Database State, states that
“in too many cases, the public are neither served nor protected by the increasingly
complex and intrusive holdings of personal information invading every aspect of our
lives” (2), profiling and discrimination being possible consequences. Also, an increase of
identity fraud may follow from biometric passport data made available for criminal
investigations, as has been proposed, for example, in Article 4b of the 1991 Dutch
Passport Act. (7). Thus, is open to question whether the current and aimed application of
biometrics in national identity management serves its primary objective (8).
Recommended Reading
(1) Are State-Mediated Forms of Identification a Reaction to Physical Mobility?
The case of England, 1500-2007- Edward Higgs, University of Essex, UK
In: First IFIP WG 11.6 Working Conference on Policies and Research in Identity
Management (IDMAN'07), RSM Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, October
11-12, 2007 - Series: IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, Vol.
261 - Leeuw, E. de; Fischer-Hübner, S.; Tseng, J.C.; Borking, J. (Eds.) - Springer, 2008 -
http://www.springer.com/computer/security+and+cryptology/book/978-0-387-77995-9
(2) Database State - Commissioned and published by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust
Ltd. - Ross Anderson, Ian Brown, Terri Dowty, Philip Inglesant, William Heath, Angela
Sasse - Copyright The Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd. 2009 -
http://www.jrrt.org.uk/uploads/database-state.pdf -
http://www.jrrt.org.uk/uploads/Database%20State%20-%20Executive%20Summary.pdf
(3) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security - Editor in Chief Henk C.A. van Tilborg
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands - Copyright 2005, Springer
Science+Business Media, Inc. -
http://www.springer.com/computer/security+and+cryptology/book/978-0-387-23473-1
Entry: Identity Management (Joe Pato)
(4) Risks and Threats Attached to the Application of Biometric Technology in
National Identity Management – Elisabeth de Leeuw - Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Security in Information Technology at the TIAS
Business School, Eindhoven and Tilburg, The Netherlands - Amsterdam, October 2004 -
http://www.pvib.nl/download/?id=6418400&download=1
(5) The Identity Project - An assessment of the UK Identity Cards Bill and its Implications
The London School of Economics and Political Science - Department of Information
Systems - Version 1.09, June 27, 2005 - http://identityproject.lse.ac.uk/identityreport.pdf
(6) UK Passport Service Biometrics Enrolment Trial - Atos Origin - Report published May
2005 - http://hornbeam.cs.ucl.ac.uk/hcs/teaching/GA10/lec3extra/UKPSBiometrics_
Enrolment_Trial_Report.pdf
(7) Happy Landings? The Biometric Passport as a Black Box - Vincent Böhre - A Report
Commissioned by the Dutch Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid -
Management Summary in English - Published 2010, Den Haag, The Netherlands -
http://www.wrr.nl/
(8) Biometric Passport in The Netherlands: crash or soft landing? - Max Snijder - A Report
Commissioned by the Dutch Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het - Regeringsbeleid -
Management Summary in English - Published 2010, Den Haag, The Netherlands -
http://www.wrr.nl/