From Iris Image to Embedded Code: System of Methods

Abstract

Passwords are ubiquitous in today’s world, as are forgetting and stealing them. Biometric signs are harder to steal and impossible to forget. This paper presents a complete system of methods that takes a secret key and the iris image of the owner as input and generates a public key, suitable for storing insecurely. It is impossible to obtain source data (i.e., secret key or biometric traits) from the public key without the iris image of the owner, the irises of other persons will not help. At the same time, when the iris image of the same person is presented the secret key is restored. The system has been tested on several iris image databases from public sources. It allows storing 65 bits of the secret key, with zero possibility to unlock it with the impostor’s iris and 10.4% probability to reject the owner in one attempt.