| The goal of this project is to investigate the possibilities of biometric authentication for securing the access to information and services in the personal environment, with a focus on user convenience and privacy protection. The project will address (a) the problem of transparent biometric authentication (i.e. not requiring specific user actions) as a means to enhance user convenience, (b) the problem of anonymous biometric authentication (i.e. not requiring the storage of privacy-sensitive biometric data) as a means to protect the user s privacy, and (c) the specific problems of the use of biometric authentication in the home environment. Methods will be presented (a) to make biometric authentication transparent, (b) to increase the authentication performance by combining biometric measurements obtained either in parallel or sequentially, (c) to use biometric data to encrypt information in such a way that the bio-metric data cannot be retrieved from the encrypted information and (d) to integrate transparent and/or anonymous biometric authentication a secure and user-convenient way in the private network of a home environment. These methods will be implemented in prototypes, which are to be demonstrated and tested in the Philips HomeLab. The scientific results will be published in journal and conference papers and three PhD theses. Transparent and anonymous biometrics, integrated in the private network of a home environment, will increase the user acceptance of the ambient-intelligence scenario , as it combines user convenience with a basic notion of trust in the ambient system. At the same time, it guarantees a sufficient level of security to the providers of information and services. This means that the introduction of the concept of a private network connected to a public network can be faster and wider. The project fits well in both the general IOP goals and in the specific goals of IOP Gen-Com Research Area 3 User-Service Control . In particular, it fits in Theme 2 of this area, which is on biometric authentication. The cooperation of research groups from UT, TUE, CWI and Philips contributes to a national research focus on the combination of biometrics and secu-rity. |
