... How the collection of biometrics is done
Explaining how the collection of biometrics is done, as it relates to fingerprints, business analyst – project management at MC Systems, Toussaint Stewart, stated that biometrics is the science of analysing an individual’s physical or behavioural characteristics to be able to authenticate their identity.
“Identifying an individual via fingerprinting is said to be one of the most reliable methods, as biologically, your fingerprint does not change on its own. Fingerprints can only be changed due to external/environmental conditions,” he informed.
Stewart noted that in identifying an individual via fingerprinting, the ridges/lines on the first joint of the individual’s fingers which forms a unique pattern are captured and stored on a database for future reference.
“This pattern will require additional information being affixed to it, such as name, date of birth and a photograph, in order to determine who a fingerprint belongs to. Once this profile is created, this individual can now be verified/identified to be who they say they are via means of capturing their fingerprint and comparing it with fingerprints that are on the same database on which the profile exists,” he added.
Stewart said that when a person is travelling, airports are able to identify them based on their travel records by scanning their fingers and having the pattern checked on their database.