With the integration of biometrics in the digital identity verification technology, traditional means of security i.e. usernames and passwords seem to fade away. Some companies still have them in use but the rapidly changing technological advancements will definitely replace them completely in the years to come. While it is observed in the present era as well that biometric verification has become an integral part of the business’s fraud and risk management practices.
Biometrics; a term used to describe the physical as well as behavioural characteristics of a person. The reason it has been associated with data security is that it authenticates the identity of a person based on his physical or behavioral traits that are difficult to replicate. Hence, biometric authentication has become a significant addition to the data security’s fight against identity frauds. One interesting fact about it is that biometrics do not only depend on the secrecy of biometric traits but the difficulty in imitating the person’s trait.
Biometric identification and authentication:
Biometric identification and authentication can be defined as the efficient and accurate security process that verifies the user’s identity through his biological traits. They could be the fingerprints, voice recognition, face recognition, retinas and irises match. This entire biometric data is previously stored in the biometric verification system and is verified later when the receptive user accesses the account. Since the data is unique to each individual, biometric authentication is securer than any other traditional form of verification. Hence, the most accurate method to check whether the person actually is what he claims to be.
The reason biometric solutions work efficiently is that the system creates a data generated model obtaining the entire biodata of the individual. This particular model and the important information it contains, he;ps the security systems to authenticate access to the applications and other network resources. The reason biometric authentication is gaining popularity so rapidly, is the fast and strong verification it performs that provides a low friction user experience.
Biometric verification’s benefits to businesses:
More than any other sector, the businesses have been observed to bring it into use, the most. Among any other businesses, the financial institutions are vulnerable to financial crimes since they deal in heavy amounts of funds transfer. The criminals target them as they are easy to scam. Passwords and usernames being the foundational security measures for decades have now failed to fight the criminal’s witty intervention to the security network. The need to implement a stronger, accurate and authentic verification system arose, when the financial institutions face high profile breaches where the passwords and usernames got stolen and sold on the Dark Web.
Biometric technology has assisted the businesses by giving the criminals a tough time. The technology has made it nearly impossible for them to replicate the identity and carry fake documents. Biometric solutions are less prone to vulnerability since each user’s biometrics are unique. Hence, making it extremely challenging for the attackers to fraudulently replicate the biometric details. Therefore, biometrics are considered to be more effective than passwords because of their efficient features of liveness and spoof detection.
Most commonly applied biometric verification methods:
The sudden shift towards digitization has brought a considerable amount of benefits to every sector of the society. The digital verification market experienced the same. Biometric solutions were developed that could easily be accessed from the mobile phones as well. Hence the methods of biometric verification online have become comparatively easier. Following are some most commonly applied biometric services:
- Facial Recognition: Facial recognition systems have been a lot in use and are available on mobile phones as well. It deeply analyses the geometry of the facial features, creates an encrypted digital model of that and stores them in the database.
- Fingerprint Scanning: The unique fingerprint patterns of every individual are verified by the fingerprint sensors and compared to the ones stored in the database. Fingerprint verification has forever been in use, it is however digitised now and has become more secure and accurate.
- Eye Recognition: The eye recognition method of biometric identification scans the eye’s retina and iris. This is said to be the most accurate as the replication of the retina and iris is nearly impossible. Although it is less user friendly, it is very fast and accurate. However, despite its remarkable authentication ability, it could prove troublesome to verify the sample for comparison, when in sunlight.
Voice Recognition: This particular practice authenticates the identity by recognising a person’s voice by the length of their vocal tract and often the shape of their mouth or larynx.
