Proceedings of the International Conference on Man-Machine Systems (ICoMMS) 11 – 13 October 2009, Batu Ferringhi, Penang, MALAYSIA 3A3-1 Des Enabled Fingerprint System Gobinath Subramaniam, Kalyani Subramanian, Senthil Raja Balakrishnan, Baskaran Kaliaperumal Government College of Technology, Coimbatore Tamil Nadu, India Abstract - Biometrics systems function to identify individuals by matching a specific personal characteristic, the biometrics identifier, with one previously recorded. Biometric identification considers individual physiological characteristics and/or typical behavioural patterns of a person to validate their authenticity. Fingerprints are used to generate the key; this key value is used in the Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm. Initially the finger print image is converted into a pixel matrix. After the matrix conversion the matrix is applied into the one way hash function. The hash code value is a 64 bit string value. This hash code value is passed into the DES algorithm as key for the encoding and decoding process. This 64-bit key value is converted as a 56 bit key value by the DES algorithm computational operations. The system also performs an authentication checking process in the decryption process to verify the correctness of the key value. Fingerprint Selection contains receiving finger print data and conversion of finger print values into matrix tasks. This accepts the finger print data as an image file. Key Generation generates the key for the security system. Using the selected finger print image data generates the key value. Encryption performs the document encoding task. The user can select any file for the encryption process. Decryption process is performed to retrieve the original document from the encoded document. Biometrics offers new perspectives in high-security applications while supporting natural, user-friendly and fast authentication. Keywords - Data Encryption Standard, Authentication, Key Generation I. INTRODUCTION Biometrics offers new perspectives in high-security applications while supporting natural, user-friendly and fast authentication [1]. Biometric identification considers individual physiological a person to validate their authenticity [3]. Compared to establish methods of person identification, employing PIN-codes, passwords, magnet- or smart cards, biometric characteristics offer the following advantages:  They are significant for each individual,  They are always available,  They cannot be transferred to another person,  They cannot be forgotten or stolen,  They always vary 1. General biometrics systems consist of the five sub-systems data collection, transmission, signal processing, storage, and decisions. The term BIOMETRICS has come to be associated with the automatic identification of a person based on a feature or characteristic. These may be based on either:  A physiological characteristic such as a fingerprint or face  A behavioural characteristic such as a signature or voice A variety of methods and techniques are available today, with the most common being: Iris/Retina, Voice, Signature, Fingerprint and Face. Generally, face, signature and voice are considered to be a lower level of security than fingerprint and iris, with iris scanning being the method of choice for extremely sensitive areas. This does not mean that the others aren't effective, but there is a price difference between the high and low end. It is a good idea to select a system that meets the basic needs [2]. Biometric systems are not perfect. An authorized user may be rejected by the system while an unauthorized user may gain access to it. Lighting, climate conditions low quality equipment or inexperience usually causes the False Rejection Rate (FRR). The False Acceptance Rate (FAR) is caused by the security standard being too low. The later is far more serious, as it poses a great risk to have unauthorized people gaining access to the systems. The FARs and FRRs vary between biometric techniques, but iris scanning has proven to be the only one that has never had a false acceptation