Securing biometric data through template distribution

A computer program product for safeguarding biometric data, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

• receive a first biometric data unit;
• generate a template based upon the first biometric data unit;
• send the template to a plurality of template storage devices external to the processor, each template storage device having a unique device identifier;
• generate a biometric query comprising a second biometric data unit;
• send the biometric query to at least some of the plurality of template storage devices external to the processor;
• and
• receive a match score from at least one of the plurality of template storage devices external to the processor, wherein the match score reflects the degree of similarity between the first biometric data unit and the second biometric data unit calculated by a source template storage device.

A processing system for safeguarding biometric data, comprising:

• a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit, the processing circuit configured to:
• receive a first biometric data unit;
• generate a template based upon the first biometric data unit;
• send the template to a plurality of template storage devices external to the processor, each template storage device having a unique device identifier;
• generate a biometric query comprising a second biometric data unit;
• send the biometric query to at least some of the plurality of template storage devices external to the processor;
• and
• receive, by the processor, a match score from at least one of the plurality of template storage devices external to the processor, wherein the match score reflects the degree of similarity between the first biometric data unit and the second biometric data unit calculated by a source template storage device.