Latest Biometric / Identity Management Standards--ISO/IEC 19794

 Under the general title of Biometric Data Interchange Formats (ISO/IEC 19794), the international joint Technical Committee (ISO/IEC JTC 1) on Information Technology has just released four new standards for use in the management of identity and access systems. These latest documents deal specifically with the biometric recording of finger, face and iris information.
 
ISO/IEC 19794 Part 2 - Finger Minutiae Data: This standard defines a biometric data block that contains a digital record of the features that can be identified and extracted from a digitized fingerprint.
 
ISO/IEC 19794 Part 4 - Finger Image Data: This standard defines a biometric data block format that contains a digital record of the image of one or more fingers (or of a palm).
 
ISO/IEC 19794 Part 5 - Face Image Data: This standard defines a biometric data block format that contains a digital record of the image of a face.
 
ISO/IEC 19794 Part 6 - Iris Image Data: This standard defines a biometric data block format that contains a digital record of the image of an iris.
 
Each of these standards, which are intended for the recording of biometric data on a range of identification cards, is expected to reinforce security and prevent fraud. The standards are applicable to a range of professional organizations including any with requirements for enhanced IT security through the identification of personnel and/or physical access control. Use of the standards will enable equipment interoperability between vendors and facilitate the storage and retrieval of biometric data.