1. A method for creating an order-invariant fuzzy commitment, comprising: (a) receiving a first input element comprising a sequence of at least one value (a 1,..., a n ) from a predetermined set; (b) generating a codeword of an error-correcting code for generating the commitment; (c) constructing a first sequence of coordinate sets (x i,y i ), for i in &lcub;1,... n&rcub;, each of the coordinate sets having a first value (x i ) corresponding to a representation of an associated one (a i ) of the at least one value of the first input element and a second value (y i ) corresponding to a symbol in the codeword, wherein the symbol corresponds to the x i th symbol in the codeword, wherein an order-invariant fuzzy commitment is formed.