Biometrics

For over 20 years, biometric research has been dealing intensively with the characteristics of a person that make him or her uniquely identifiable, e.g. fingerprints. In contrast to a code number, a biometric feature guarantees the identity of the entitled person, since it is not possible to obtain or transfer such a characteristic fraudulently.

However, possible applications go far beyond the identification of a person, as is the case with access control. With technology such as PIN codes, transponders or simple keys, one can obtain access or initiate a process chain. With the help of dynamic, biometric characteristics, like a signature or voice recognition, it is also possible to record the active declaration of intent of a person, which is inextricably linked to that individual and cannot be diffused by mistake.

Therefore, the digital signature by means of electronic acquisition is predestined to be used in the context of digital applications, documents, forms and verification protocols.

The signature procedure is not only relevant for the active declaration of intent, but also contributes in a decisive way to the identification, i.e. the unambiguous attribution of a digital signature to a person.

Digital signatures are divided into static and dynamic features. The static characteristics are extracted from two-dimensional signature images and reveal unique distinguishing features to a signature expert. In contrast to normal signatures on paper, the dynamic part of a digital signature is considerably more efficient for analysis purposes, since exact digital data is available. Due to the careful monitoring of the pressure, direction and speed of writing and the variation of writing speed, the dynamic data offer a high degree of identification security.

It is possible to imitate a two-dimensional signature, after some practice, since in general patterns can also be obtained. However, what a falsifier does not know and cannot reproduce are the dynamic features of a signature.

That is why StepOver GmbH attaches great importance to digital signature acquisition with the highest possible accuracy, in order to also be able to record the finest signature nuances as well.