Fingerprint-Based Identity Authentication and Digital Media Protection in Network Environment

Current information security techniques based oncryptography are facing a challenge of lacking the exact connectionbetween cryptographic key and legitimate users. Biometrics, whichrefers to distinctive physiological and beha-vioral characteristics ofhuman beings, is a more reliable indicator of identity than traditionalauthentication system such as passwords-based or tokens-based. However,researches on the seamless integration biometric technologies, e.g.,fingerprint recognition, with cryptosystem have not been conducteduntil recent years. In this paper, we provide an overview of recentadvancements in fingerprint recognition algorithm with a special focuson the enhancement of low-quality fingerprints and the matching of thedistorted fingerprint images, and discuss two representative methods ofkey release and key generation scheme based on fingerprints. We alsopropose two solutions for the application in identity authenticationwithout trustworthy third-party in the network environment, andapplication in digital media protection, aiming to assure the secrecyof fingerprint template and fingerprint-based user authentication.