Criteria towards metrics for benchmarking template protection algorithms

Traditional criteria used in biometric performance evaluation do not cover all the performance aspects of biometric template protection (BTP) and the lack of well-defined metrics inhibits the proper evaluation of such methods. Previous work in the literature focuses, in general, on a limited set of criteria and methods. This paper provides the first holistic approach to the evaluation of biometric template protection that is able to cover a whole range of methods. We present a selection of well-defined criteria and some metrics that are compliant with the reference architecture for template protection as defined in the recently adopted standard ISO/IEC 24745 (2011), which is applicable to nearly all known BTP methods. The criteria have been grouped in three categories of performance: technical, protection, and operational.