Locking Iris-Based Biometric Using Keys [4]:

This system is known as Vernam’s cryptographic system, also called a one-time pad. The
authenticator locks the iris biometric templates it stores with keys that are only known to the
owner of the data. In this case, private information is protected even if the database is
compromised.

Main Idea:
 A key is created using a pseudo-random number generator, and bit values depending on
the key bits are then randomly inverted using the XOR function.
 The key concept behind the privacy-preserving iris-based verification is that unencrypted
and one-time pad-encrypted iris codes can both be matched. As long as the encryption
keys are the same, the Hamming distance between two iris codes after and before
encryption stays the same.

Applying in Real Life:

 Every time biometric measures are taken, the same person's biometric characteristics are
different introducing noise in the image.
 However, we can suppose that each person has a perfect iris code (x) and a measurement-
specific noise (z). The ideal iris code x and the measurement noise z can be combined to
form the real iris code.
 In that case, the noise establishes the Hamming distance between two identical person's
iris codes.
 Now, if we apply the same cryptographic key to other genuine iris codes of the same
person using Vernam's cypher, we can divulge information about the noise, but the actual
iris code is still encrypted.
 The iris code verification procedure will invalidate both the ideal iris code and the
encryption.
 The attacker will be able to identify the type of noise, but will not be able to infer
anything about the ideal iris code.

Using Visual Cryptography to Secure Biometric

Systems:
The iris template has been enhanced with visual cryptography to add an additional degree of user
verification and protect it from intrusion in centralized databases.

What is Visual Cryptography?

Naor and Shamir proposed a basic method for visual cryptography [1]. A single pixel p is
mapped onto two shares A and B using a binary Image Z. To encode A and B, given the pixel is
white, we randomly choose one row from the first two rows of the given table (fig. 1). If P is
black, one of the last two rows is selected. Then A and B are superimposed, resulting in 2*Black
sub-pixels given p is black, or one black and one white pixel when p is white.
Which factor affects Visual Cryptography?
The major factors that affect how well a visual cryptography system performs are pixel
expansion and contrast.

Applying Visual Cryptography for Iris Authentication:

This is done in two steps:

Enrollment:
Each eligible user who has access to a secure resource will have their eye image taken by the
administrator. Processing of the enrolled eye image is necessary in order to obtain characteristic
iris features.
This is done in three steps [2]:
a. Segmentation: 
It is required to extract the iris from the images of the eye.
b. Normalization:
Daugman's rubber sheet model is used for this. Each pixel in the iris region is remapped by this
model to a pair of polar coordinates. The radial vectors loop through the iris region, with the
center of the pupil serving as the reference point. 
c. Feature Extraction:
The procedure involves the convolution of the normalized iris pattern into one-dimensional Log
Gabor wavelets. Consequently, a bitwise template of size 20*480 is generated.
This template is stored in a database.

At this point, visual cryptography is used for Iris Template Protection.

 A randomly chosen secret binary image chosen by the administrator, and the template are
fed into the visual cryptography algorithm [3]. 
 Two random shares are generated using visual cryptography, S1 and S2. Both of these
shares are divided into upper and lower parts [3].
 The image is also divided into upper and lower parts. 
 One share is issued to the user along with the login, while the other is stored in the
database together with the user login [3].

Authentication:
 The user provides the share allocated to him on his ID card.
 The system searches the database for the matching share.
 The first iris template image I1 is produced by stacking two shares. This image is used to
generate an iris feature template.
 A new eye image is provided by the user. It is processed using prior mentioned three
steps. It produces an iris feature template.
 The next step is to compare the two templates.
 Access is granted if features match; otherwise, the verification fails.

Effectiveness of Technique:
The iris template in the database is protected using visual cryptography techniques. It also adds
an additional layer of authentication to the current iris authentication system. Because there is
only one share in the database, no information can be acquired for the enrolled eye image, thus
iris template security is guaranteed. 

References Visual Cryptography

[1] Moni Naor and Adi Shamir, “Visual cryptography” .In
Proceedings of the advances in cryptology– Eurocrypt, 1-12,1995
[2]L. Masek, P Kovesi, “Recognition of human iris patterns for
biometric identification”. Tech. Rep., The School of Computer
Science and Software Engineering, The University of Western
Australia,
http://www.csse.uwa.edu.au/˜pk/studentprojects/libor/index.html,
2003.
[3] Wen-Pinn Fang “Non-expansion visual secret sharing in reversible
style”. IJCSNS International Journal of Computer Science and
Network Security, 9(2), February 2009.

[4] Przemysław Strzelczyk Research and Academic Computer Network

(NASK), Warsaw, Poland “Privacy Preserving and Secure Iris-Based
Biometric Authentication for Computer Networks”
Fig2