Which of the following relies on a physical characteristic of the user to verify his identity?

A.
Biometrics

B.
Social Engineering

C.
CHAP

D.
Kerberos v5

Explanation:

Biometrics is a method of authentication that uses physical characteristics, such as fingerprints,
scars, retinal patterns, and other forms of
biophysical qualities to identify a user. Nowadays, the usage of biometric devices such as hand
scanners and retinal scanners is becoming
more common in the business environment.
Answer option D is incorrect. Kerberos v5 is an authentication method used by Windows operating
systems to authenticate users and
network services. Windows 2000/2003 and XP clients and servers use Kerberos v5 as the default
authentication method. Kerberos has
replaced the NT LAN Manager (NTLM) authentication method, which was less secure. Kerberos uses
mutual authentication to verify both the
identity of the user and network services. The Kerberos authentication process is transparent to the
users.
Note: Kerberos v5 is not supported on Windows XP Home clients or on any clients that are not
members of an Active Directory domain.
Answer option B is incorrect. Social engineering is the art of convincing people and making them
disclose useful information such as account
names and passwords. This information is further exploited by hackers to gain access to a user’s
computer or network. This method involves
mental ability of the people to trick someone rather than their technical skills. A user should always
distrust people who ask him for his
account name or password, computer name, IP address, employee ID, or other information that can
be misused.
Answer option C is incorrect. Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) is an
authentication protocol that uses a secure form of
encrypted authentication. Using CHAP, network dial-up connections are able to securely connect to
almost all PPP servers.
Reference: “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometrics”