Soft Biometrics Based on Continuous Authentication for Standalone Workstation

Abstract

The conventional authentication system only requests the user to provide the authorized account and password to log into the system once they start to use a computer or a terminal. However, under this authentication framework, the machine can only recognize the user’s identity from the login information. It lacks the information to know who is using it. The common drawback of the one-time authentication system, which people use in the daily life, is that when the user leaves the seat for a short break, i.e., to get some documents or have a drink, anyone can sneak up to the computer and pretend to be the authorized user to access their data, or do anything under a fake identity. Later on, nobody will know who used the computer. This kind of security defect is not acceptable in some applications with the sensitive data, for example, the banking financial record or the customer personal information, the military industry, and the business confidentiality. To avoid this disadvantage soft biometrics is used. Hence the project suggests the use of Soft biometrics for user identification .Only an authorized user can login, user id and password is used in the computer application.  As soon as the login process is completed soft biometrics start functioning. In soft biometrics a webcam is used that functions in the background. A webcam continuously takes the image of the person in real time and segregates the face from the whole image. Once the face is identified it keeps track of the face. Viola Jones algorithm is used to detect the face with various postures such as movement of face, etc.  The identification can also be done even with spectacles and beard and mustaches. This greatly improves the authentication process. Whenever a person moves away from his place the soft biometrics fails and looks for face. If it’s not able to find face within a short time it immediately locks the computer.