A cryptographic biometric authentication system based on genetic fingerprints

Abstract

We specify a system for authentication and key derivation using genetic fingerprints which prevents the recovery of biometric information from data stored for verification. We present a detailed security analysis based on estimates of the entropy of the DNA data and formal security results. The scheme is shown to be robust and efficient by analysing the typical frequency and structure of errors in DNA measurements and selecting appropriate error correcting codes. As a result we obtain an authentication system that offers a security level equivalent to cryptographic keys with 73 bits and a FRR well below 1%.