1. If your BioVault 2.0 is not on, press any key to activate unit.
2. To Enroll the first User, select the Admin feature from the main menu and press the button.
3. Scroll to Enroll, by using the button and press the button.
4. BioVault 2.0 will then prompt you to swipe your finger three times by displaying “1 of 3” on the screen and the green lights will light up around the sensor area.
5. Place your finger over the sensor with the tip of your finger at the top of the finger guide.
6. Make sure you have good, flat contact with the sensor. As soon as the green lights turn to orange lights, begin to swipe your finger from Position 1 to Position 2 taking 1 to 2 seconds to complete the swipe. Try to get your entire fingerprint to cross the sensor. The orange lights indicate a scan is in progress. The orange lights will stay on until the swipe is complete.
7. After the first scan is complete, your fingerprint will be displayed on the LCD.
8. The lights will turn green again, indicating the first swipe was successful. The screen will display “2 of 3” indicating that the scanner is ready for the second swipe, repeat Step 6 then the screen will display “3 of 3” prompting for the final swipe, repeat Step 6 for a third time.

Thank is all there is to it!  You have successfully enrolled another user into the memory on your Biovault Biometric Safe.

Biometrics are any methods for uniquely identifying a human based upon one or more unique physical or behavioral traits that can not be reproduced easily or at all.  This unique trait forms the basis for identifying that particular person and is store in the computer as the foundation for identity access management and access control.  These are fancy words that say  “the computer stores something that only you posses (like your fingerprint) and then uses that to validate that you are you”.  Most often the biometrics software has a three step process which includes an interface from the computer to the human (possibly a touch screen called a biometric reader), a pre-processing algorithm to normalize the image from the interface, enhance the image, and remove any background noise, and third a process that takes the normalized image and breaks it down into data points and stores it in the computer’s database while discarding any other non-relevant information.

Safes are essentially hardened and strengthen metal boxes with doors.  Those doors are secured by large metal bolts that extend out from the door and into the frame of the door, again hardening the opening.  They are meant to keep people out.  Although many new improvements in the securing of the box have been made over the last 100 years, that part of device remains mostly unchanged.  The bulk of the improvements/enhancements or maybe call it modernization in safes are in how you gain access to it.  Originally it was a key, then it became a dial lock, then more sophisticated dial locks, then electronic locks, and eventually biometric safes, where the owner is the only one that can possess the combo (a fingerprint).  It can’t be stolen and is difficult to reproduce.  Many safes also have multiple access systems for either additional security or alternative entry in case of a failure.

To use a biometric safe, you first must go through a process called enrollment.  During this process, your biometric information (fingerprint) is stored in the memory inside the tiny circuitry in the safe.  This enrollment process is much like choosing your password the first time you sign up for a new website or something and it called registering a user.  It uniquely identifies you as you.  Most biometric safes allow you to store multiple fingerprints to allow multiple people to open the safe.

When you want to open the safe, you simply hold your finger over the biometric reader and the the safe will open.  It is that simple.  If the fingerprint does not match any on file, the safe does not open.  Some models will shut down for 10 minutes if there have been too many failed attempts.  Most biometric gun safes do NOT have this feature as it can a life or death situation if you can’t get the safe open.  Many models have simple AA batteries to change from the exterior of the unit to keep the safe running.  Plus, for added peace of mind, many manufactures offer a secondary way to open the safe such as a keypad or a key (which should be store away when not needed).

Biometrics are considered good systems of security. Keep in mind that the technology, like any, is not perfect. It suffers from what is called False Acceptances or False Rejections. A False Acceptance is when an person is allowed into the safe, although they are not a registered user. This could occur when a person is similar to a user or has copied the user’s biological or behavioral information (which is difficult, but not impossible to do).  Most biometric safes carry have a False Accept Rates that vary from 0.0001% to 0.1%, which makes them very secure.  Alternatively, a False Rejection occurs when a registered user is falsely rejected and not allowed access. This occurs when a user’s criteria does not match their stored information.  The failure rate for this varies from 0.00066% to 1.0%.  This will often occur from human error if a person uses the wrong finger to access the safe.

Manufactures of these safes include:  Honeywell, Barska, Gunvault, Biovault, and LockSAF to name a few.