Modern biometric technology began around the 1960s when scientists started to analyze and identify physiological components of acoustic speech, which was the precursor to modern voice recognition technology development. In 1969, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began pushing for automated fingerprint identification leading to the study of minutiae points to map unique patterns and ridges of fingerprints.
By 1975, the FBI funded the first fingerprint scanners that could extract prototypes of fingerprint points. As digital storage costs used to be prohibitive, the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) began working on algorithms and compression that led to the development of the M40 algorithm, the first operational matching algorithm of the FBI. The algorithm can narrow the human search as it generates fewer images that were then provided to trained and specialized human technicians for evaluation.
Biometric science was a booming field in the 1990s, particularly when the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Defense Advanced Research Products Agency (DARPA) funded face recognition algorithms for the commercial market. The FBI’s CODIS forensic DNA database can store, search, and retrieve DNA markers.
In the 2000s, West Virginia University launched its first bachelor’s program in Computer Engineering and Biometric Systems. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standardized generic biometric technology and promoting international biometric research and development.
Additionally, the biometric stage saw the introduction of palm print biomarker technology. The European Biometric Forum was created to address fragmentation in biometric technology and barriers to adoption that led to the global acceptance of face recognition as a biometric authentication method for passports and other Machine-Readable Travel Documents (MRTDs). Other than this, United States Immigration also uses biometrics to increase security and allow legitimate travelers into the country using biometric data such as fingerprints, voice samples, and iris images, among many others.
Another significant advancement in biometric technology is the introduction of Touch ID in Apple’s iPhone 5S, an integrated feature that allows users to unlock their devices using fingerprint authentication. After the wide acceptance of TouchID among users, Apple transitioned to facial recognition technology as they introduced iPhone X.
Now, 5G is predicted to put big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) in back pockets, making it more accessible. With this, W3C and FIDO have developed standards to regulate biometrics, aside from recognizing it. Biology-based security applied in modern technology is paving the way to wider acceptance of passwordless identity verification to ensure data security.
For more details about the brief history of biometric technology, here is an infographic provided by Login ID.
