Privacy protection of biometric templates

Although many biometric characteristics are not secrets, biometric reference data (also known as biometric templates) need to be stored securely and to be protected against unauthorized use. For this purpose, biometric template protection techniques have been developed that do not only prevent privacy leakage and provide confidentiality of the stored biometric templates, but address also problems like identity theft and cross-matching of biometric templates stored in different systems. This paper describes the security and privacy risks associated with storing biometric data and highlights the necessity of using biometric template protection as a potential remedy to these risks. Privacy considerations are discussed with respect to using fingerprint verification for access control to a public outdoor swimming pool.