Biometrics are measurements or patterns of the human body and traits used to verify a person’s identity. Biometrics is divided into two main categories: physiological and behavioural.
Physiological biometrics include fingerprints, facial recognition, iris scanning, voice recognition, hand geometry.
Behavioural biometrics include keystroke dynamics, mouse movements, gait analysis, and signature verification. Biometrics can be used alone or with other factors such as passwords, tokens, or smart cards. Biometrics for Remote Desktop is a robust software solution that allows you to redirect locally connected biometric sensors to your remote desktop session:
- fingerprint scanners;
- vein scanners;
- signature pads.
Biometrics for remote desktop allows you to redirect biometric scanners to a remote Windows session with one click.
What is Biometrics for Remote Desktop
Standards bodies ISO and IEC have defined biometrics as “the automatic recognition of people based on their biological and behavioural characteristics.”
To identify a person, you must first examine and record his biometric data. This process is known as registration. Samples of biometric data obtained from an individual are stored for comparison with samples obtained from subsequent encounters.
A person is often referred to as a data subject because we are interested in the data collected from them upon registration and after that.
A person’s identity can be determined using biometrics such as:
- The remote desktop with a fingerprint reader first stores a fingerprint template in the secure computing module. Next, the user is identified using an RDP fingerprint device.
- The scanner analyses the user’s face. It creates a geometric model and converts it into a saveable calculation result. Authorization involves comparing the calculation result for a specific user with the result from memory.
- The technology scans the iris surrounding the pupil. The scanner uses capacitive cameras to recognize the user’s facial features and the geometric shape of the iris.
- Voice biometrics provide a secure and unhackable authentication system. It is an effective fraud detection tool.
- Behavioural Biometrics. This method involves studying how users interact with their devices to evaluate their behaviour and determine who they are.
A fallback process will be required to handle cases where the biometric system cannot recognize a person.
How biometrics work for remote desktop
Biometrics for Remote Desktop is easy to use. The solution consists of two parts:
- Workstation;
- Server
The Workstation part must be installed on your local computer and the “Server” part on a remote server that you log into via:
- RDP;
- PCoIP;
- Blast;
- ICA;
- NICE DCV.
Once both parts are installed, no additional configuration is required. Every time you log into a remote session, biometric devices are transferred automatically. This way, any software that requires fingerprint input or a biometric sensor run in remote desktop sessions can operate as if the scanner were connected directly to the remote party.
Solutions for biometric remote desktop usage
Biometrics for Remote Desktop is a robust software solution that allows you to redirect locally connected fingerprint scanners to a remote desktop session.
Using fingerprint scanners in a remote desktop environment is problematic or even impossible in standard situations. Usually, you will have to use some complex workarounds.
Biometrics for Remote Desktop allows you to redirect biometric scanners to a remote Windows session with one click.
Driverless solution
No USB device drivers are required on the remote side. This is important because most USB fingerprint scanners are not designed to work in a terminal server environment. But there are usually no drivers for Windows Server.
Using biometrics for Remote Desktop allows you to use fingerprints in a terminal server environment without USB device drivers.
Remote Desktop Protocols
Biometrics for Remote Desktop supports various remote desktop protocols, including:
- Microsoft RDP;
- Teradici PCoIP;
- Citrix ICA.
It doesn’t matter what environment you use (Microsoft Terminal Services, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, formerly XenApp and XenDesktop, Amazon Workspaces). Any compatible client software is used to access the remote side.
Safety
In a multi-user environment (Windows Server OS), if more than one user is logged in remotely, each biometric scanner is isolated within its separate session. So you don’t have to worry about someone else gaining access to sensitive data. During a remote session, each user can see only their own biometric devices, so you don’t have to scroll through other users’ devices to find yours.