Biometric System

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What Does Biometric System Mean?

A biometric system is a technological system that uses information about a person (or other biological organism) to identify that person. Biometric systems rely on specific data about unique biological traits in order to work effectively. A biometric system will involve running data through algorithms for a particular result, usually related to a positive identification of a user or other individual.

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Techopedia Explains Biometric System

The specific nature of today’s biometric systems is associated with a specific use of the term "biometrics." In general, biometrics is any use of biological data in technology. Biometric systems focusing exclusively on the identification of humans have become the major kind of biometric system in today’s IT world.

Governments, businesses and organizations can use biometric systems to get more information about individuals or about a populace as a whole. Many biometric systems are developed for security applications. An airport scanning device, a "bio-password" system, or an internal data gathering protocol is an example of a biometric system that uses identifying data for a security result.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.