Biometrics have been on the verge of market acceptance for several years. Providing "something you are" (e.g., fingerprint or retina scan) in addition to "something you know" (e.g., user identification or password) and "something you have" (e.g., security token, "smart card" or "dongle") is appealing because if it works correctly, the biometric identifies the individual requesting access rather than raising the question, "Did someone else use the password or token?"
Although biometric techniques often are depicted in movies as high-tech ways to control access to secure places, such as the villain's nuclear missile launch sites and secret "fortresses of good or evil," we’ve found most biometric systems are limited to the doors of the data center.
