What is considered the most important type of error to avoid for a biometric access control system?

What is considered the most important type of error to avoid for a biometric access control system?
A .  Type I Error
B .  Type II Error
C .  Combined Error Rate
D .  Crossover Error Rate

View Answer

Answer: B

Explanation: When a biometric system is used for access control, the most important error is the false accept or false acceptance rate, or Type II error, where the system would accept an impostor.

A Type I error is known as the false reject or false rejection rate and is not as important in the security context as a type II error rate. A type one is when a valid company employee is rejected by the system and he cannot get access even thou it is a valid user.

The Crossover Error Rate (CER) is the point at which the false rejection rate equals the false acceptance rate if your would create a graph of Type I and Type II errors. The lower the CER the better the device would be.

The Combined Error Rate is a distracter and does not exist. Source: TIPTON, Harold F. & KRAUSE, Micki, Information Security Management Handbook, 4th edition (volume 1), 2000, CRC Press, Chapter 1, Biometric Identification (page 10).