Although biometrics are becoming more common in security applications, incorporating them into a system is more than just dropping a fingerprint scanner next to a PC keyboard. This book takes a look at the issues involved in using one of these biometric techniques—fingerprint recognition.
The book does a great job, starting with a chapter covering the history and an overview of fingerprint use before moving onto a very interesting chapter on fingerprint-sensing systems. These two chapters provide an excellent background even for those unfamiliar with fingerprint technology.
The chapters on analysis, recognition, matching, and indexing are a mix of theoretical concepts and mathematical analysis. There are also a sufficient number of concrete examples to keep most readers interested and informed, even if they are less interested in the mathematical aspects.
A chapter is dedicated to the SFINGE program. This program was used by the authors for generating fingerprints to test theories and fingerprint-recognition hardware and software. The accompanying DVD contains real and synthetic databases used in the 2000 and 2004 Fingerprint Verification Competition. It also contains a copy of the SFINGE program used to create synthetic fingerprints.
The book wraps up with a discussion of system security. It addresses the usual attacks, such as replay, Trojan Horse, denial of service, fake fingers, and so on. There is also a discussion of key-based encryption algorithms and their relationship with fingerprint systems. It is short but useful. Overall, the book provides an excellent background for anyone that is going to be working with fingerprint systems.
