Which is more likely to generate a false acceptance?

• A. Verification
• B. Identification
• C. Both equally likely
• D. None

Answer: (B)

This topic is about how biometric checks handle impostors when the system decides who you are. In verification, you present a claimed identity and the system checks if your sample matches that specific template within a set threshold. A false acceptance occurs when someone who isn’t that person still meets the threshold and gets in, but it’s limited to how closely their biometric matches that one stored template.

In identification, the system must figure out who you are by comparing your sample against many stored templates. Here, an impostor’s sample only needs to resemble at least one of the many templates enough to cross the threshold. With a larger database, the chance that some unrelated biometric matches someone’s template above the threshold increases, leading to a higher false acceptance rate.

So, false acceptances are more likely in identification because there are many potential identities to match against, increasing the odds that an unauthorized user is accepted.