Verification (biometrics)

Overview
In a biometric system, verification is the process of comparing a submitted biometric sample (trial template) against the biometric reference template of a single enrollee whose identity is being claimed, to determine whether it matches the enrollee’s reference template.



There are two primary measurements of the effectiveness of verification:


 * Verification rate: The rate at which legitimate end users are correctly verified.
 * False acceptance rate: The percentage of times a system produces a false accept.

Privacy
It is important to understand the specific meaning of the phrase “whether an individual is who he or she claims to be.” The individual has an identity outside the system. The system does not determine who the individual is in the global, absolute sense. The system makes a very specific, very narrow judgment as to the probability of a match between the new biometric template (trial template) and an existing biometric template that was previously collected (reference template). If there is a certain level of statistical matching the system concludes that the individual who originally enrolled is the same individual who is now facing the system.