Authentication of e-learners using multimodal biometric technology

E-leaming systems represent a new form of learning and are becoming more and more popular everyday. Hence security in e-Learning has become a fundamental requirement. But the problem of e- learning systems is that only little money is invested for security. Also to authenticate an e-learner especially in case of e-exams is a major challenge in an e-learning environment. The role of authentication techniques to prevent unauthorized access by malicious users becomes more significant. User authentication methods can be classified into three categories: (1) methods based on human memory such as passwords, (2) methods based on physical devices such as magnetic or IC cards, and (3) methods based on biometrics such as fingerprint, iris, etc., As the first two categories cannot escape vulnerabilities caused by forgetfulness or losses, the third category attracts much attention these days. A major problem of biometrics authentication is that it is not free from an error in the process of extraction of human characteristics and comparison of biometrics data. Multi - biometrics is useful to improve reliability of biometrics authentication when a single biometrics authentication technology cannot satisfy a required reliability level. This paper proposes an authentication system with multi- biometrics to support various services in e-Learning where user authentication is necessary.