Question: Authorizing computer users. One of the most pressing problems in high-technology industries is computer security. Computer security is typically achieved by using a password - a collection of symbols (usually letters and numbers) that must be supplied by the user before the computer permits access to the account. The problem is that persistent hackers can create programs that enter millions of combinations of symbols into a target system until the correct password is found. The newest systems solve this problem by requiring authorized users to identify themselves by unique body characteristics. For example, a system developed by Palmguard, Inc. tests the hypothesis

Ho : The proposed user is authorized

Ha : The proposed user is unauthorized

by checking characteristics of the proposed user's palm against those stored in the authorized users' data bank (Omni, 1984).

1. Define a Type I error and Type II error for this test. Which is the more serious error? Why?
2. Palmguard reports that the Type I error rate for its system is less than \(1 \%\), whereas the Type II error rate is \(.00025 \%\). Interpret these error rates.
3. Another successful security system, the EyeDentifyer, "spots authorized computer users by reading the one of-a-kind patterns formed by the network of minute blood vessels across the retina at the back of the eye." The EyeDentifyer reports Type I and II error rates of \(.01%\) (1 in 10,000) and \(.005%\) (5 in 100,000), respectively. Interpret these rates.

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