UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS: 2010/2011
THIRD YEAR STAGE EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR
OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
BIT 4205: BIOMETRICS SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
DATE: JUNE 2011 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer question ONE and any other TWO questions
Question One
a)Distinguish between genotypic and phenotypic characteristics in biometrics (4 Marks)
b)The use of biometrics raises various public concerns over privacy of biometric data. Discuss
atleast five privacy issues raised regarding biometrics. (5 Marks)
c)In what regard are behavioral characteristics more vulnerable to changes (4 Marks)
d)When biometrics systems are used for identification or authentication there are four possible
outcomes. Identify these outcomes (4 Marks)
e)As any other system and technology the biometric technology has its vulnerabilities. As a
security expert in biometrics you have been requested to prepare a presentation on attacks on
biometric authentication system for your colleagues. Describe three types of attacks that you
shall include in your presentation (9 Marks)
f) Esoteric biometric systems provide a selection of some of the more obscure techniques. Describe
at least four types of these biometric modalities (4 Marks)
Question Two
a)In order for the biometrics to be ultra-secure and to provide more-than-average accuracy, more
then one form of biometric identification is required. Hence the need arises for the use of
multimodal biometrics. Your client is considering this option to secure their data bank. You are
have been asked to to prepare a report that will help them in decision making. As part of your
report discuss the following issues
i. The benefits of multimodal biometrics (5 Marks)
ii. Issues considered in the design of Multimodal Systems (5 Marks)
iii. Which biometric modalities to fuse (5 Marks)
b)Discuss the use of biometrics in robotics (5 Marks)
Question Three
a)Using the fingerprint scanning discuss how the “zoo” concept can be used in Setting variable
matching threshold (12 Marks)
b)Discuss the benefits of biometrics and cryptography (8 Marks)
Question Four
a)Discuss whether governments use biometric measures to track citizens’ movements (6 Marks)
b)Can biometrics invade an individual’s privacy. (4 Marks)
c)Discuss the possible effects of a type I error and a type II error at a border control point
(6 Marks)
d)Explain how similarity rating of probability of occurring for authorized users (pB(n)) and
unauthorized users (pN(n)) is estimated in a system (4 Marks)
Question Five
a)Briefly explain whether biometrics can reveal health information? (6 Marks)
b)There are some key business and user convenience drivers for the implementation of biometric
systems however there are some disadvantages and concerns with the implementation of
biometric systems. Discuss these advantages and constraints (10 Marks)
c)Distinguish between genotypic and phenotypic characteristics in biometrics (4 Marks)
