A hybrid scheme for securing fingerprint templates

Abstract

In a fingerprint recognition system, templates are stored in the server database. To avoid the privacy concerns in case the database is compromised, many approaches of securing biometrics templates such as biometric encryption, salting, and noninvertible transformation are proposed to enhance privacy and security. However, a single approach may not meet all application requirements including security, diversity, and revocability. In this paper, we present a hybrid scheme for securing fingerprint templates, which integrates our novel algorithms of biometric encryption and noninvertible transformation. During biometric encryption, we perform the implementation of fingerprint fuzzy vault using a linear equation and chaff points. During noninvertible transformation, we perform a regional transformation for every minutia-centered circular region. The hybrid scheme can provide high security, diversity, and revocability. Experimental results show the comparative performance of those approaches. We also present strength analysis and threats on our scheme. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.