The Biometrics Institute is the independent Not for profit association providing information, education, research and testing of biometrics. It is predominately a user group representing government departments and private organisations who are using or looking at using biometrics,[1] but suppliers also form part of the membership. The organisation is based in Australia and has over 100 member organisations from around the world. The association currently holds three Biometrics Institute conferences every year: the Biometrics Institute Australia Conference in May in Sydney, the Biometrics Institute New Zealand Conference in March in Wellington[2] and a Technology Exhibition in November in Canberra every year. It runs regular networking meetings around Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK. The Biometrics Institute has an office in Sydney, Australia and in London, UK.
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The Biometric Institute was founded in October 2001 by Ted Dunstone[3] in October 2001 with initial funding from the Australian government. The objective of the Biometrics Institute is to provide a forum for information and education on biometric technologies for users, suppliers, academia and other key stakeholders.[4] The Biometrics Institute constitution was designed that way that it allows those user organisations (governments, financial services, transport etc.) double the voting rights than the suppliers. Its Board of Directors also has to have a majority of those user organisations. This set up is very different from most other biometrics associations. The Biometrics Institute has been working on two government co-funded projects, a Biometrics Institute Privacy Code and a Biometrics Vulnerability Assessment Methodology.
A concern is how a person's biometric, once collected, can be protected. The Biometrics Institute addressed this issue in 2004 with the development of a Privacy Code.[5] This Code was approved by the Australian Privacy Commission in September 2006 in order to protect consumer personal data beyond the current protections offered by the Australian Privacy Act. For example the Biometrics Institute addresses the responsible use of Biometrics in schools by encouraging organisations to consider any issues that may impact on a person's privacy before implementing biometrics and recommends Privacy Impact Assessments.
Although there has been significant recent research into the vulnerability of various biometric systems to spoofing attacks, there is as yet no generally agreed method of assessing the degree of vulnerability in a principled fashion. Since 2007, the Biometrics Institute has been working on this problem, partly co-funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. The goal is to develop a general methodology for vulnerability assessment applicable to any biometric system, and to apply it to a number of biometrics. A methodology has been developed and applied to a number of face and fingerprint biometric systems. Testing of a voice biometric system will begin in the near future. The aim of the methodology is to provide, for a given system and method of attack, a level of assurance about the maximum proportion of attacks likely to succeed. This is a practical measure which is readily incorporated into system design. Suggested countermeasures to identified risks are also provided.
The Biometrics Institute promotes the responsible and ethical use of biometrics, including due consideration to privacy concerns, it is a forum for discussion about biometrics between members, potential users and vendors, it educates and informs members, business and the community about biometrics, it promotes the development and awareness of standards, benchmarks and test regimes for the industry and provides policy input to governments in partnership with members and key stakeholders biometrics.