A Project On Fingerprint Web Authentication Information Technology Essay

This project describes about the project background, project background and objectives. (FWAS) fingerprint web authentication system is basically focused on fingerprint access control system which will be used for university websites to login. This system will be now developed for the university website login.

This system will help in solving the problem faced by most of universities like internet security issues. Now days almost every university is using intranet and extranet for sharing file and information among the students and staff members. Universities also upload exam papers on the website for faculty share for their use. In these type of websites the students are assigned with permission so that they cannot access the confidential data. Students, lecturers and admin will have different username and password for login into their account and use it.

This project involves the development of the system which will scan the fingerprints of the users and then authenticate them. The users need to be involve for their fingerprint scanning, they need to scan their fingerprints using the fingerprint scanner.

This system might help university to resolve their security issue regarding website login. The main purpose of this module to provide security to university examination system also to provide secure login system to the website to prevent unauthorized access. This project will be designed and might be implemented to the university website. The rules and regulations for the university will be taken care before implementation of this system.

Project Background

FWAS is a biometric system for universities which can benefit any university with secure online login and access to their systems. This system will be a new start for implementing biometric technologies on websites. This system will help in increase in performance, security and accuracy within the university. It will be a great help to the employees doing their work faster and efficiently.

These days every university is facing problem regarding the security issues, the most commonly when we focus on the academic and examination departments where they have common websites for students and staff login. Now day the exam papers also uploaded on the websites of universities where only limited staff can login like senior lecturer or examination department. The main purpose of this system is to implement secure login technique which will minimize the security risk from the current system. In the current system i.e. without biometric authentication system, if the student gets access to the login details of the examination department then it can easily get access to instead of username and passwords. As we are minimizing our scope to university website login we can also use these systems in online banking, shopping websites, military or any other websites that contains confidential data.

Identification of some other problems with regards to internet security and website logins:

Internet accounts get compromised: Now days many internet accounts have been compromised due to hacking, people use common and similar passwords for all accounts. Hackers are using many techniques like phishing technique, key loggers etc…

Frauds happening all around the internet: Banking and credit card frauds are more famous among the fraud list, all this came into picture after the internet banking and online credit card usage was implemented for the internet users.

Sometimes users forget their account user-name or passwords: As internet users are using many accounts like social networking, email accounts, banking account, university accounts or company accounts. For each and every account user need to have Id and password and they might face problem remembering them.

Not able to authenticate genuine user: If the account has been compromised it cannot authenticate the genuine user is using the account or someone else is using it. E.g.: If my email account password is being compromised and the hacker is login using my login details to login into the account, now it is not possible to authenticate the genuine user for the account?

Hackers mostly use sniffer tools on the network: To hack into someone’s account and get their personal information. There are many tools available that can track your activity that you are performing on PC or laptop while you are working, it can even store the keystrokes like which key you are using while entering your user-name and password.

Project Deliverables

For each project to be successful, it needs to divide in different components.

Below are the project deliverables for the system.

1. Database: In this all the details of staff members (lecturers, academics, admin) who access the website of university will be stored. The fingerprints of the staff members will be stored in form of digital data in the database. This is very important part of the system because without database we cannot match the fingerprints of the users.

2. Documentation: For the final system the documentation will be provided with all the details required for the system which also include the research for fingerprint technology, problem with fingerprint, limitation and any future enhancement for development of the system.

3. Manage users: The users need to be registered for the first time with the details and will be given login details for the access. The login details will contain only username.

4. Device Communication: When the data is being stored in the database with users fingerprint and other details. Now when the user comes for authentication there should be communication between the device and database. When the user scans the finger on the device the image will be taken and will check it in the database if the match is found then the user is authenticated if not then user will be rejected.

5. Help: For the help of the users the manual will be provided. Form the user manual the users can get the information about the system and will be able to perform the tasks.

Project Scope:

To improve security for internet users using fingerprint recognizing.

To prevent the happening of fraudulent activities such as hacking of accounts passwords and misuse them

To obtain fast and accurate authentication results in cost effective manner.

This system will be prototypical implementation of real system. In order to solve the major problems facing the manual authenticating system; the developer would at least deliver the following as core functions of the system:

User’s biometric database: This function will add/edit and store biometric details such as (thumb) biometric information of users.

User’s authentication: This function will identify the user and grant access to their account. It will identify the person’s biometric details from database and authenticate respectively.

However, in addition to the above mentioned core functions, if sufficient time and resources are available for the developer after having completed the core functions, the developer will also attempt to implement the following enhancement functions and special features, though these features are out of scope of the project.

Level of challenge

Authentication

System should verify the genuine user and should be able to minimize security risk .The verification between human and machine should be claimed. The fake user cannot be authenticated.

Previously for authentication system uses username and passwords or digital signatures. But now new method of authentication needs to be used.

In the public network like internet we need to have security and authentication take a new way. We need to have much stronger way of authentication to prevent unauthorized access.

Authorization

The authorization to the genuine user is must. Each and every user has different permissions there if the user is genuine but the system should allow the access to the particular user. If the system does not do this then the genuine user can also have unauthorized access.

Rationale for carrying out the project:

The main objective of this project is to develop a fingerprint web-authentication system for verifying the genuine users. Through this is being developed for university, the system in customizable. The development of this system involves lots of tedious work and challenges to make it fully functional as required. The aim of the project is to justify that implementing a FWAS will overcome the problems which are found in the previous systems. In brief, this project aims to minimize the online security risks from the current system and improve the system which is more reliable and efficient.

Developer believes that there is an extensive need to develop a system like this for universities. As mentioned before, the main aim of the project is to solve the issues regarding online security risks. The following are the tangible and intangible benefits are expected from the system.

High level of security for staff member in university

Reduce security risks

Fast and easy access

No need to remember the passwords any more.

As per providing internet security:

We need to provide internet security to keep the system and information safe from malicious software’s, need to maintain privacy and protect sensitive and confidential information. With the ever growing use of home computers, the spread of broadband and the rise in internet banking and commerce the importance of proper internet security measures has never been greater.

When we talk about IT system and internet security is very important to the internet users and business users because it should be safe from the cyber criminal attacks. Implementing security can be very profitable. This implies that business users need to be very concern about security, to enhance and improve the system security needs to be held from its requirement.

Development Plan

Problem Identification: In this stage developer will identify the problem area. As developer system is providing internet security and reduces the security risks but it need to be mentioned that what is the problem where internet users face problem and what are the areas that developer will focus on with regards to his system. As developer’s research the problem area that system will focuses is based web-authentication system. In the current system the system cannot authenticate the genuine users as others username and password can be used easily and accounts are can be easily compromised. The problem area that developer is focusing is based on university websites where the students and employees login into their accounts to access the services. But if any staff member username or passwords is being used by the students and student can get access to the information like exam papers, attendance records, mark sheets etc… It can create a problem for the university, so university needs such a system which can solve this problem.

Requirement analysis stage: In this stage the project would require the developer to do research and strengthen the understanding on the following areas of knowledge, both domain and as well as technical research areas, without which the developer will not be able to deliver a good academic project. The questionnaire and survey form will be prepared to do a research regarding the system .The questionnaire and survey will be for the expert’s users like software engineers and biometric users. Form the conclusion developer can get the clear idea about the system and will be able to move forward.

The interview will be held with company that works with biometric technology, the interview will be conducted with technical team of Iris Corporation. After the interview the developer will be able to finalize the programming language and platform going to use for the system. Developer needs to conduct survey regarding the system, the survey will be conducted to know the importance of this system whether this system is really required or not. The survey will be conducted among the final year IT students in the university. After the survey developer can conclude the importance of the system or any additional functionality required by the system.

Specification: Now developer needs to do a research on the biometric hardware devices available for the system, the developer need to do a research for the specification of the devices for the selection and need to meet requirements for the system. This will be done by doing research on the similar systems available developer might conduct an interview with people who had previously worked on the biometric technology. From the research and interview developer can justify for which biometric hardware device need to be implemented for the system.

Design: In this part the developer will design the database and interface of the system. The system should be user friendly and HCI factors need to consider during the designing of the system.

Implementation:

In this part the developing of the system is done. In this developer will start the coding of the project and should cover all the functionality of the system. This process will take much time as compared to other.

Testing:

After the coding of the system is successfully completed now developer will test the system for any kind of errors or bugs. If there are any errors or bugs the developer will try to fix them up in this phase.

Deployment: Deployment implies moving a product form a temporary or development state to a permanent or desired state. The system might be implemented in the working environment during this phase of the system development life cycle. And it will be monitored for any errors or any further requirements.

Maintenance: After a system is deployed, it needs to be maintained. Software maintenance is the modification of the system after the delivery to correct faults, to improve performance to adapt the system to a modified environment.

Target Users: FWAS is targeted for the universities, who wish to maintain maximum the security in their websites to prevent from unauthorized access.

Assumption and Constraints

The connection of the system are locally connected

Users for the system should be aware of windows application

The computer system are compatible with biometric system

Database server

Web server

Dummy Database will be created for the testing purpose.