Fujitsu develops technology to turn biometric data into a cryptographic key

Conventional technologies that use biometric data to encrypt information require that the biometric data be used as-is when retrieving confidential data. This means that for confidential data managed in a cloud service, for example, it would be necessary to send the biometric data through the network, raising issues of the network's security.

Now, Fujitsu Laboratories announced the development of a technology that uses randomized numbers, each different, to convert biometric data such as palm veins, into a cryptographic key for use in encryption and decryption.

This newly developed technology enhances the security of the method, protects confidential data such as IDs and passwords; and prevents unconverted biometric data from passing through the network. They anticipate that using this technology will make it easier and more convenient to carry out biometric authentication to verify the identity of a person accessing confidential data managed on the Internet.

Widely used error-correcting codes were applied for the encryption method as the technology to compensate for errors that are typically generated in the transmission route. The system randomly determines different random numbers for encryption and decryption, and using this protects the confidential data and biometric data.

Fujitsu Laboratories will continue to improve the speed of decryption processing and expand the types of information that can be encrypted, while also examining this technology's applicability to a number of potential use cases such as the social security and tax number system in Japan, with the goal of commercialization during fiscal 2017. It will also examine the development of the feature code, and work to expand the types of applicable biometrics, such as fingerprints.