Ari Juels and Martin Wattenberg introduce a fuzzy commitment scheme, a cryptographic primitive that combines techniques from error-correcting codes and cryptography. Unlike conventional cryptographic commitment schemes, which require an exact witness to open a commitment, a fuzzy commitment scheme allows a witness close to the original in a suitable metric (e.g., Hamming distance) to open the commitment. This makes it suitable for applications like biometric authentication, where data is subject to noise and variability. The scheme uses a hash function and an error-correcting code to ensure security. The commitment is constructed by hashing the secret value and storing the difference between the secret and the witness. This allows the secret to be recovered even if the witness is slightly corrupted. The scheme is both concealing (the secret cannot be guessed) and binding (the secret cannot be opened in more than one way). The authors prove the security of the scheme relative to the properties of the underlying hash function. They show that the scheme is resilient to errors, making it useful for biometric systems where data is inherently noisy. The scheme is also strongly binding, meaning that it is infeasible to find two different witnesses that can both open the same commitment. The paper discusses the application of the scheme to biometric authentication, where it can be used for static authentication, challenge-response authentication, and encryption/decryption. The scheme is shown to be efficient and secure, with resilience determined by the error-correcting code used. The authors also discuss the implications of non-uniform distributions of witnesses and the importance of selecting appropriate error-correcting codes for different error patterns. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research, including the application of fuzzy commitment schemes to other areas such as multimedia transmission and digital watermarking.Ari Juels and Martin Wattenberg introduce a fuzzy commitment scheme, a cryptographic primitive that combines techniques from error-correcting codes and cryptography. Unlike conventional cryptographic commitment schemes, which require an exact witness to open a commitment, a fuzzy commitment scheme allows a witness close to the original in a suitable metric (e.g., Hamming distance) to open the commitment. This makes it suitable for applications like biometric authentication, where data is subject to noise and variability. The scheme uses a hash function and an error-correcting code to ensure security. The commitment is constructed by hashing the secret value and storing the difference between the secret and the witness. This allows the secret to be recovered even if the witness is slightly corrupted. The scheme is both concealing (the secret cannot be guessed) and binding (the secret cannot be opened in more than one way). The authors prove the security of the scheme relative to the properties of the underlying hash function. They show that the scheme is resilient to errors, making it useful for biometric systems where data is inherently noisy. The scheme is also strongly binding, meaning that it is infeasible to find two different witnesses that can both open the same commitment. The paper discusses the application of the scheme to biometric authentication, where it can be used for static authentication, challenge-response authentication, and encryption/decryption. The scheme is shown to be efficient and secure, with resilience determined by the error-correcting code used. The authors also discuss the implications of non-uniform distributions of witnesses and the importance of selecting appropriate error-correcting codes for different error patterns. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research, including the application of fuzzy commitment schemes to other areas such as multimedia transmission and digital watermarking.