STTR Phase I: Software-Based Liveness to Prevent Spoofing Fingerprint Biometric Scanners

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I research project is the development of liveness confirmation for fingerprint systems to reduce vulnerability to spoofing. Biometrics systems, authentication through physiologic characteristics such as fingerprints, have been suggested to improve security while increasing convenience. One limitation is that it can be 'stolen' and replicated to achieve authentication, termed spoofing. This project will develop a means to detect liveness through a software-only approach which can be integrated with any mainstream commercial fingerprint technology. This approach considers the moisture changes in one or more images directly measured by the existing scanner. It is anticipated that liveness is a critical technology in security to enable the maturity of biometric systems by minimizing its vulnerabilities and by increasing user confidence in the technology. This research will decrease biometric vulnerability and extend to other emerging biometric research areas. By developing liveness, one of the main vulnerabilities of biometric systems will be minimized, thus, enabling the technology to achieve its promise to increase trust in transactions that are increasingly electronic and remote. There is a need to link electronic identity to an individual in more reliable ways. Biometric authentication is growing industry with applications that include identification for government employees through a new biometrically-enabled identification card, electronic passports for border security (ePassport), and electronic payments systems, Pay by Touch, to reduce identity fraud.