Providing Higher Entropy Cryptographic Keys by the Use of Biometrics

In this paper modifications are investigated to a previously introduced Key Regeneration system used to obtain cryptographic keys from biometric data, specifically from the iris. These modifications improve the performance of the previous system making possible the regeneration of longer and higher entropy cryptographic keys. The modified system was evaluated on two public databases: CBS-BiosecureV1 and NIST-ICE 2005. On NIST-ICE 2005 it is possible to regenerate a 287 binary digit cryptographic key with an estimated entropy of 231 bits at 0.28% False Acceptance Rate (FAR) and 6.30% False Rejection Rate (FRR). The cryptographic keys regenerated possess enough length and entropy to be used on practical cryptosystems like, for example, the AES.