What is the difference between "biometric identification" and "biometric verification"?

What is the difference between "biometric identification" and "biometric verification"?

BIO-key employs fingerprint biometrics to perform true user identification. When exploring biometric security or any other form of security, it is important to understand the difference between identification and verification.

Biometric identification technology allows users to prove their identity by submitting a biometric sample, such as a fingerprint, iris scan or voice pattern. No other identification data is provided; identification is achieved through biometrics alone.

Non-biometric technologies authorize users via a key, card or identification code such as a PIN or password. Biometric verification technology adds a biometric sample to the mix, along with the identification code or key. These systems can be defeated easily by obtaining or counterfeiting the key, card or password.

Among automated biometric systems, only those that are capable of real-time identification can eliminate the possibility of duplicates in a database.
Biometric identification compares a biometric "signature" to all the records stored in a database to determine if there is a match. Because it requires comparing each existing record in the database against the new biometric characteristic, it can be slow and is usually not suitable for real-time applications such as access control or time and attendance.

You'll find biometric identification used most frequently in such applications as law enforcement — for instance, the comparison of a fingerprint from a crime scene to a database of prints collected from convicted criminals.

Biometric verification compares a newly-scanned biometric characteristic to a measurement previously collected from that same person to verify that individual's identity. For instance, when an employee is hired, that employee's fingerprint will be enrolled into the company's biometric time and attendance system. When that employee attempts to clock in the next day, her newly-scanned fingerprint will be compared to the fingerprint scan collected when she was enrolled into the system. If there is a match, the employee's punch will be recorded.

Because of this one-to-one comparison, biometric verification systems are generally much faster than biometric identification systems. Most commercial applications of biometrics for time and attendance or access control use biometric verification.