Method of using fingerprints to authenticate wireless communications

Disclosed are a system and a method employing a user's fingerprint to authenticate a wireless communication. The user's personal fingerprint is employed as the secret key in the context of a modified "challenge-response" scenario. The system includes a fingerprint capture module on a mobile personal wireless communication device (e.g., a wireless telephone) and a central authentication system coupled to a conventional mobile switching center. The central authentication system contains information that associates each mobile identification number ("MIN") with a particular user's fingerprint. When a wireless communication is to be initiated, the central authentication system engages in a challenge-response authentication with the mobile switching station or the wireless phone using the stored fingerprint associated with the MIN through the common air interface. The correct response from the mobile station will only be generated when the user's fingerprint entered through the fingerprint capture module attached to the mobile station matches the information sent from the central authentication system, and only calls placed from authorized users are connected.