What Are Biometrics?

Biometrics are the physical traits and behavioral characteristics people exhibit that help identify them. If you've ever recognized someone by how they walk or how the back of their head looks in a photograph, you've used biometric identifiers. These personalized characteristics and physical markers in our DNA, fingerprints, eyes, or voices can help prove identity or locate a suspect in a criminal identification. 

Biometric traits are important for various uses, including preventing financial fraud, helping people travel, and investigating crimes. Read on to learn more about different types of biometrics, how industries can use them, and how you can work with them in your career.

What are biometrics? 

Biometrics are biological or behavioral markers, such as fingerprints, retina scans, or gait analysis, that can identify people. Because each person's biometrics are unique and measurable, they can be used as an identification system for fraud prevention, public safety, forensics, and government identification. The two main uses of biometrics are verification and identification.

• Verification. When you use your biometrics to verify who you are, you compare your biometrics with the stored biometric data to determine whether or not it’s a match. For example, using biometric verification to unlock your smartphone. You preset the biometric password by allowing the computer to scan your thumbprint, and the device will compare your thumb against the stored scan every time you want to unlock your device. 

• Identitification. To use biometrics for identification, a system compares the biometric data with a database of collected data to look for the potential identity of an unknown person. Investigators use this sort of biometric data in forensic investigations where the police might have, for example, a fingerprint associated with a suspect. The investigators can compare the fingerprint they collected at the crime scene with stored data to determine whose fingerprint it was. 

Read more: What Is Authentication?

Biometric devices

There are a few primary types of biometric technologies you may be familiar with, especially if you travel by plane:

• Contact biometric devices. As the name suggests, these types of biometric devices require physical touch. Fingerprint recognition machines or, fingerprint readers are an example of a commonly encountered contact biometric device.

• Contactless biometric devices. Contactless devices rely on biometric features that can be captured via audio or visual input. Examples of commonly used contactless biometrics include voice recognition tools and facial recognition systems, such as the cameras used by TSA in airport security.

• Combination biometric devices. These types of biometric devices require two or more methods of authentication, and can be contact, contactless, or both. The recognition of individuals based on more than one biometric technique is a stronger security measure, similar to the two-factor authentication (2FA) you may have encountered when signing into a secure website, such as your banking portal.

Does my passport have biometrics?

Some passports have biometric chips that help verify travelers' identities. If you have a US passport, check for a small camera symbol on the front cover. Passports with biometric authentication are sometimes referred to as "ePassports."

Types of biometrics

Biometrics can be behavioral or physical. The follow are examples of physical and behavioral biometrics.

Physical biometrics might include your:

• DNA

• Layout of your face

• Voice

• Fingerprints

• Retinas or irises

• Map of your veins

• Geometry of your hands

• Heartbeat

Behavioral biometrics include your:

• Gait

• How you sign your name

• How you type

• Your speech patterns

Here's a closer look at how experts can use some of these characteristics for biometric identification. 

1. DNA

DNA is the genetic code that instructs your body how to develop and grow. It's in all of your cells, including your blood, hair, and skin cells. Unless you have an identical twin, you are the only person in the world with your DNA, which makes it useful for identification. DNA biometrics are commonly used in forensics. 

2. Face

Facial recognition biometric systems use an image of your face to confirm your identity. Computer vision makes it possible to analyze the geometry of your face, like the measurements between your features. An important area of research in facial recognition is developing systems that can better detect faces obscured by glasses or face masks to reduce false alarms.

Read more: What Is Facial Recognition?

3. Voiceprint

Your voice has a unique “voice print,” created from your unique behaviors and the structure and anatomy of your throat, vocal cords, and mouth. Taken as a whole, you can map your voice with sound waves to create a model of the way you speak, which can be used as a biometric system.

4. Fingerprints

Fingerprints, or the unique design of ridges on the ends of your fingers and toes, contain biometric data you can use for identification. Police and other investigators commonly use fingerprint identification and DNA evidence because this type of evidence can be left behind at crime scenes. 

5. Eyes

Your iris and retina have a unique design that you can map to provide a model of your eye. It's also possible to collect data about the movement of your eyes or what (and how) you look at things because eye movements are the product of complex neurological systems and physical anatomy, making it nearly impossible to replicate another person’s eye movements. 

What are biometrics used for?

People can use biometric data for a wide range of uses, from opening a smartphone and proving identity to preventing credit card fraud and other forms of identity theft. Companies may use biometrics to restrict access to buildings or rooms within them. Here are some common applications for biometrics in forensics, government, and preventing fraud. 

Forensics

Investigators commonly use DNA or fingerprint analysis because those types of biometric data can be left behind at a crime scene. When people touch objects, they leave behind fingerprints. If their blood, skin cells, hair, or other biological material falls at the scene, they leave behind DNA. In addition to identifying criminals, investigators can also use forensic biometric data to identify disaster victims or help locate missing people. 

Government 

The US government uses biometric data for several national security and counterterrorism purposes, including limiting access to sensitive databases and other digital information. Other government uses include limiting access to physical locations like military bases, processing immigration documents, and helping people travel in and out of the country legally. 

Prevent fraud

Banks and other financial institutions can use biometric data to ensure that only authorized individuals can make payments or access financial accounts online. Biometric data is especially important for financial institutions as generative AI programs become stronger and make it easier for criminals to create new identities, a process called synthetic identity theft. Biometric data may become more important since it tends to be more difficult to fabricate, especially when used with other forms of identification. 

Who uses biometrics? 

If you’re interested in working with biometrics in your career, below are four potential job titles to choose from. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects the following jobs to grow faster than average.

1. Biometrics systems engineer

Average annual salary (US): $155,000 [1]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 7 percent [2]

Biometrics systems engineers design, build, and test biometric systems that capture, measure, and compare biometric data. In this role, you could build systems for law enforcement, health care, financial institutions, or any company implementing biometric identification programs. Instead of collecting and processing biometric data, you'll be creating the necessary systems for other people to work with biometric data. 

2. Bioinformatics scientist

Average annual salary (US): $179,000 [3]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 26 percent [4]

Bioinformatics scientists work to create and improve the computer systems required to analyze and engage with biometric data, such as DNA datasets. In this role, your work empowers other scientists to work with the data. Keep in mind you may also work with pharmacological or genomic data.

3. Fingerprint technician

Average annual salary (US): $42,858 [5]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2032): 14 percent [6]

Fingerprint technicians help take and match fingerprint biometric data against the data stored in databases like the National Criminal Identification Center (NCIC)—often in a criminal justice setting. In this role, you may also be called to give expert testimony about how you came to the identification conclusions in any given case.  

4. Security engineer

Average annual salary (US): $191,000 [7]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2023 to 2033): 26%

Security engineers build systems that protect computer systems from cyber-attacks and data breaches. If you want to work with biometrics with a focus on security measures, you might consider starting with this cybersecurity role.

Read more: What is a Security Engineer? 2025 Guide

Learn more with Coursera 

If you’re ready to take the next step and embark on a biometrics-related career, consider taking Bioinformatic Methods I, a course offered by the University of Toronto on Coursera. This class takes approximately 19 hours to complete and covers topics like genetic analysis, bioinformatics analysis, evolution, and comparative genomics.

Or start your cybersecurity career by earning credentials from an industry leader through Google's Cybersecurity Professional Certificate program. In just six months, you can obtain AI training and hands-on experience with Python, Linux, SQL, and security information and event management (SIEM) tools.