The document discusses the evolution and application of biometric security systems, highlighting their growing importance in consumer electronics, corporate and public security, and law enforcement. It outlines various types of biometrics, the components of biometric systems, and the convenience they offer compared to traditional passwords. However, it raises ethical and political concerns regarding privacy and data access, as well as the challenges in developing cost-effective DNA authentication technologies.

1. Biometrics.
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2. The How of Biometrics
 Regardless of a large population of people not knowing about privacy issues, tech
companies have continuously made efforts to improve security and user-data
privacy (De Luca, et al., 2015)
 Some of the early methods used included using a pattern of keys to lock the
screen. This was mainly to keep off children from interfering with the phone (De
Luca, et al., 2015).
 Security tools evolved from pressing the menu key followed by the (*) key to using
of patterns and passwords in the era of smartphones.
 Today, biometric security systems are on the rise after especially in smartphone
security (De Luca, et al., 2015).
 Biometrics simply covers all measurements and calculations that determine an
individual’s unique physical and behavioral traits.

3. The How of Biometrics
 Biometrics have found use in various fields including, consumer electronics,
corporate and public security systems, and point of sale.
 Other than access control and identification, security forces and research teams use
biometrics to denote individuals who are under their surveillance.
 Other than their oblivious merit in application to security, they also carry the
advantage of being convenient. Unlike passwords they do not have to be
remembered.

4. Basic Components
 The basic components of a biometric reader include:
 A scanner that records the biometric data
 A software that authenticates and converts the biometric data into a digital format
 A data base that stores the digital format of the biometric data
 Initially, the data was stored in a common data base but modern biometric depend
on collecting data locally after which it is cryptographically hashed.
 This allows authentication to be accomplished without necessarily having direct
contact with the biometric data.

5. Types of Biometrics
 There are many types of biometrics which evolve around physical attributes that are known to be unique
for all individuals.
 Some of the common biometrics are;
 facial recognition,
 fingerprints,
 finger geometry,
 iris recognition,
 vein recognition,
 retina scanning,
 DNA matching
 voice recognition.
 Behavioral characteristics can also be used as biometrics based on how an individual act. This covers
traits like typing patterns, gait, amongst other gestures.

6. Feasibility
 Currently biometrics is a selling point for mobile gadget creators but its uses are only
starting.
 Biometrics are likely to develop in the near future to be incorporated as a key
surveillance system in the military. Facial recognition software has already been
incorporated within street security cameras enabling easier tracking of persons of
interest to the security forces.
 The uses of facial recognition and fingerprint scanning is not likely to develop much
further. So far except for continued improvement of scanners and software
(Bhagavatula, et al., 2015)
 In both the near and far future, security will continue to be an essential aspect in both
business and personal uses.
 The most accurate biometric as of now is DNA authentication. However, the scanners
for DNA authentication are some of the most expensive of all the components used in
biometrics if not the most expensive.

7. Feasibility
 creating a user friendly and cost-effective DNA authentication platform that can be
as easily adopted as was fingerprints and facial recognition is difficult.
 Security needs in the future will require adoption of more effective biometrics.
 Stakeholders in the biometrics development industry will therefore develop DNA
authentication components that are considerably cheap so as to meet the market
demands.
 The application of biometrics is already being embraced in nearly every field and
the only thing that the future holds is the completion of this adoption.

8. Ethical Issues
 Who gets to access that data? Could the government and companies be using it for
surveillance on the general public? If so, is the government justified to do so?
 Many applications from Google Play Store have been found to access some to certain
features on the phone without permission. Some of the features that have been
accessed are mainly the camera and audio receiver.
 Biometrics could also be being used by companies and governments to survey on users
without their knowledge (Smith, et al., 2015).
 People adopt biometric systems so as to safeguard their privacy and yet the data they
are using to safeguard the rest of their data can be accessed by someone else (Smith, et
al., 2015).
 despite this being the primary purpose, it raises other questions such as who has the
right to access that data and why they have the mandate to do so.

9. Political Issues
 Politics has always found a way to meddle with everything. The United States
especially has a thing with being the center of attention.
 Politicians have used biometric systems on many aspects including collecting data
on their voters so as to know exactly what they want.
 The incident with Huawei being accused of collaborating with the Chinese
government by the United States government has been one of the most oblivious
issues associated with biometrics.
 This resulted to a stalemate between the two countries that ended up drawing
other nations into the fiasco. Canada was used to initiate the war after it arrested
Huawei’s Chief Operations Officer.
 The political scene has taken advantage of the development of this technology to
sway their agendas to law (De Luca, et al., 2015).

10. Business Issues
 In the business field, the case is not so much of an issue as much as it is an opportunity.
 Online platforms such as PayPal have introduced options to log into their system using fingerprint
scanning. Earlier, people forgot their passwords and pin codes and ended up losing money since
they could not access their account (De Luca, et al., 2015).
 As earlier mentioned, consumer devices with advanced biometric access are a major selling point
for manufacturers.
 The Samsung Note 10 which is viewed as best phone released in 2019 was advertised with focus on
its under-display fingerprint scanner.
 The business field is also tasked with promoting the use of biometrics. There are therefore
opportunities for manufacturers of both the hardware and the software to be used in the system.
 Currently these opportunities are being exploited but there are still those that hold the future of
biometrics such as use of DNA authentication (Schultz, & Sartini, 2016).

11. Conclusion
 Security and privacy are two different things that are often handled under one
umbrella.
 Biometrics are the most effective security measure currently in use and their
importance will spread into the future.
 Unfortunately, despite their effective application their greatest loophole is privacy.
 However, with education people should be able to understand exactly how it
works. With that information, they will understand the limits that biometrics can
protect their data and when it fails to.

12. References
 Bhagavatula, R., Ur, B., Iacovino, K., Kywe, S. M., Cranor, L. F., & Savvides, M. (2015).
Biometric authentication on iphone and android: Usability, perceptions, and
influences on adoption.
 De Luca, A., Hang, A., Von Zezschwitz, E., & Hussmann, H. (2015, April). I feel like i'm
taking selfies all day!: Towards understanding biometric authentication on
smartphones. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human
Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1411-1414). ACM.
 Schultz, P. T., & Sartini, R. A. (2016). U.S. Patent No. 9,323,912. Washington, DC: U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office.
 Smith, N. M., Cahill, C. P., Sheller, M. J., & Martin, J. (2015). U.S. Patent No.
9,137,247. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.