Applications
Besides biometric technology being used in electronics, it has also attracted the attention of some financial institutions. In the summer of 2016, MasterCard introduced facial recognition and fingerprints identification to simplify the authentication process in mobile shopping (Jones, 2016). In the same year, HSBC banks also offered facial feature verification after also launching the voice and fingerprint recognition service in the UK. The facial recognition system is used to compare the selfie taken by a customer against the photo from an ID document (Allan, 2016).
Over the past couple of years, the amount of biometrics implemented in consumer electronics has drastically increased. Everything from fingerprint scanners to the newly implemented iris scanners has started being featured in electronics such as smartphones. These features are fundamental to ensuring the security of your device, especially the iris scanner, which is much more secure than a fingerprint scanner. The latter is less secure because we leave our fingerprints behind on every surface we touch, whereas iris scanners such as the one on the Galaxy Note 7 require infrared light to be beamed directly into the eye for the iris pattern to be exposed.
Site Title
U.S. Biometrics Technology Market
Biometric Authentication
The Future of Security
Biometric authentication refers to the technology that is used to identify a person based on an individual's physical and biological characteristics such as fingerprints, face, voiceprint and gait. Such technology is widely deployed in several applications today for security, ranging from immigration and border control to access control in online banking, laptops, and mobile phones.
Background
The process of authentication consists of three main steps: First, biometric traits are collected by sensors, which are used for identification. Then, these captured biometric traits are compared with the traits in the database. The last step is to decide whether the person can access a facility or system (Sinjini Mitra, 2016).
How it Works
In today's information world, securing the data of every individual is critical. Everything from our financial data to personal information is at risk due to today's increasingly digitally connected world. Biometrics offer a personalized secure way of protecting our information, a way far more secure than using passwords.
Why is it important?
One of the advantages of biometric authentication is that it provides customers convenience, as it allows customers to access their devices and accounts more quickly than typing passwords. Besides, unlike passwords, biometric information cannot be forgotten or lost. In addition, it is more secure. For example, the iris information cannot be left behind on surfaces and cannot be stolen or duplicated, so it makes it a much more secure feature to utilize for protecting your information. Furthermore, the attitudes of consumers towards biometric authentication are positive; according to the pilot of biometrics by MasterCard, 75% participants believe that it will decrease fraud (Jones, 2016).
Another advantage of biometric authentication is that it solves some problems of traditional authentication methods. Mitia, Wen and Gofman (2016) discuss the limits of three widespread traditional authentications, namely passwords, magnetic cards, and smart cards. The first problem of passwords is that they might be forgotten because of memorizing problems. It is also easy to be hacked for those people who rarely change their passwords, especially the easy-to-remember passwords. As for the magnetic cards, they can be duplicated and stolen. In addition, the information on the cards is not protected by general standards to protect customer information. Although smart cards solve some problems of magnetic cards, they can still be stolen and are vulnerable to fraud.
Although biometric technology can solve the problems of traditional authentications, it still faces some challenges. First, the expense of implementing biometric technology is great; it includes the cost spent on pilots of the new technology and replacing the previous systems. Second, there are some security and privacy issues as well; attackers may bypass the biometric authentication process by fabricating biometric traits to access people’s accounts. If biometric data are stolen, the data owner may lose his/her privacy and security, because any biometric trait is not changeable. Last but not least, some people may not be willing to give their biometrics because of their cultural belief or other reasons (Sinjini Mitra, 2016).
Advantages and Disadvantages
Although biometric technology still needs to improve in several areas such as security and the cost of adoption, it has potential to grow into a reliable and mature security tool. The interest in developing biometrics will continue to open a wide range of opportunities in the future. Biometrics may also be used in some new areas, e.g., health care, education, social networks, and gaming as well. Moreover, several new biometrics, e.g., vascular pattern recognition, ear shape recognition, and facial thermography, are also emerging.
Conclusion
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In conclusion, the biometric technology has already been implemented in various domains to provide customers with convenient services and to protect account security. Although there are still some concerns and challenges, as technology advances, continuous research and development of biometrics will likely solve those problems. If biometric technology can be utilized properly, it will go a long way towards making the world a safer place to live in for future generations.
SOURCE: Phonearena.com
Works cited
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