1. A method of recognizing damage to a biometric information source comprising the steps of: sensing biometric information from a biometric information source to provide sensed data; extracting features from the sensed data, the features indicative of identifiable content of the sensed data; analyzing the features to determine if some features, when grouped, are characteristic of damage to the biometric information source from which biometric information was sensed; and, when some of the features are characteristic of damage to the biometric information source, grouping data relating to the some features and to the indicated damage to form damage data.