Functional Encryption for Privacy-Preserving Biometric Authentication

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Solution Overview

Problem

Biometric information, being unique and non-voluntary, poses a risk of serious privacy violations due to potential leakage during authentication processes, necessitating an approach to prevent such exposure.

Innovation Solution

The use of functional encryption and Euclidean distance calculation in authentication methods and systems to perform personal authentication without decrypting biometric information, ensuring secure storage and deletion of sensitive data.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If biometric information is used for authentication, then authentication accuracy is improved, but privacy security deteriorates due to potential leakage of unique biometric data

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveauthentication accuracyVSAvoidprivacy security

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates a functional encryption scheme that encrypts biometric information while preserving only the necessary functional output for authentication. Instead of storing and comparing raw biometric templates, the system encrypts the biometric data and uses functional decryption to obtain only the authentication result, eliminating the need to handle unencrypted biometric templates throughout the system.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces functional encryption as an intermediary layer between the biometric data and the authentication process. This intermediary encrypts the biometric information while maintaining the ability to perform authentication through functional decryption, preventing direct exposure of the original biometric data while still enabling accurate authentication.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If biometric information is stored for authentication, then authentication capability is improved, but data security risk increases due to potential exposure of sensitive personal information

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveauthentication capabilityVSAvoiddata security

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system stores encrypted versions of biometric information rather than the original data. The functional encryption creates a ciphertext that can be decrypted functionally to produce authentication results, but the original biometric data remains protected and cannot be recovered, thus maintaining authentication capability while improving data security.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts only the necessary authentication functionality from the biometric data through functional encryption. The system takes the biometric input and extracts only the authentication result through functional decryption, separating the authentication capability from the raw biometric data storage, thereby reducing data security risks.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Object-affected harmful factors

If traditional encryption is used for biometric data, then data protection is improved, but authentication efficiency deteriorates due to decryption and comparison operations

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata protectionVSAvoidauthentication efficiency

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the parameter of encryption from traditional symmetric or asymmetric encryption to functional encryption. This parameter change allows the system to encrypt biometric data while preserving functional properties that enable efficient authentication through functional decryption, eliminating the need for time-consuming decryption and comparison operations while maintaining strong data protection.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentUS12425221B2Authentication method and authentication system using biometric information and functional encryption

Publication Date: 2025.09.23 SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD

AI summary

An authentication method including, at an apparatus—generating a master secret key and a master public key, generating a secret key and a public key using enrollment target personal information, the master secret key and the master public key, and generating first information using the enrollment target personal information. Communicating the secret key and the first information from the apparatus to the authentication server, storing the secret key and the first information in a secure area of the authentication server, generating at the apparatus, a ciphertext encrypted using authentication target personal information and the public key, second information using the authentication target personal information and communicating the ciphertext and the second information from the apparatus to the authentication server. At the authentication server, performing an authentication of the authentication target personal information using the secret key, the first information, the ciphertext and the second information, wherein the performing of the authentication of the authentication target personal information includes calculating a similarity between the enrollment target personal information and the authentication target personal information by computing an Euclidean distance of the enrollment target personal information and the authentication target personal information, and the performing of the authentication of the authentication target personal information is performed in relation to the similarity.