A biometric is a detailed information about a person’s body – pattern of eye color or fingerprint patterns. It is the digital scanning of the physiological or behavioral characteristics of a person as a means of identification.
A biometric test and device uses biological information about a person to create an elaborate record of their characteristics.
Biometric security is the use of technological devices for identity verification through physical or behavioral characteristics.
Biometric Authentication
Authentication is a way of verifying that a person is who they claim to be. It is a security measure that matches the biometric features of a person trying to get into a device or system with the person’s ‘template’ – saved data – to determine a resemblance.
Examples include retina scans, fingerprint scans, etcetera.
Biometric Identification
Biometric identification involves the use of biometrics to identify a person by capturing distinctive, measurable characteristics. Examples include systems or devices that capture fingerprints, speech patterns/ voice patterns, eye color patterns, etcetera.
Biometric identifiers include fingerprints, palm veins, DNA, facial features, etcetera.
Examples Of Biometric Security
- Fingerprint scanning
- Heart rate sensors
- Iris recognition
- Voice recognition
- Facial recognition
Advantages Of Biometric Security System
-
Faster Authentication
The use of biometrics make it easier to open apps quickly and verify an individual.
-
Convenient to use
The data stored makes it easy to update or search data in sheets and grant employers access to employee information such as attendance and leaves.
-
Access control
Managers of companies or organizations can easily grant or restrict employees’ access to documents, files, rooms/places.
-
Efficient
These systems provide a well-organized and competent way of security because templates take up less storage.
-
Does not change
The biometrics of a person hardly ever change except in cases of accidents.
-
Accuracy
There is zero room for data manipulation while recording. The exact time the scan was made and the exact date will be recorded.
-
Flexibility
Long attendance sheets or books are no longer needed. There is also no need for repetitive password inputs to open files, documents, and applications.
-
Scalability
Biometric data can easily be used for different purposes or projects.
-
Difficult to fake/Steal and Non-transferable.
Biometrics can never be gotten by observation or faking, as they are parts of a person and cannot be forgotten or transferred.
Disadvantages Of Biometric Security System
-
Expensive
Authentication and identification systems are expensive to set up and maintain.
-
Failure in identifying a user when the system fails
When there is a system failure/problem, there may be a failure to identify all biometric data. When there’s a bug in the system or a power shortage occurs, the biometric system may be unable to function properly.
-
Hacking
There is the possibility of the biometric database being hacked or tampered with.
-
Risk of false reject or false accept
False accept rate (FAR)/ false match rate (FMR) –
This is the probability that there is an incorrect match of the input to a wrong template on the database. With biometric authentication, there is the possibility of invalid inputs being wrongly accepted and matched with nonmatching templates.
False reject rate (FRR)/ false non-match rate (FNMR) –
There is always the possibility of the system rejecting an input with its template match. Some valid inputs may be rejected as a result of a little system problem or system failure.
-
Injuries may hinder proper identification
When an injury is incurred on the body part used for identification, the system may not be able to verify the identity of the person and link to the database. For example: if a user’s face gets disfigured, a face scanner may not be able to identify them.
Summary
Biometric security systems are very essential in most organizations or companies and they are useful in various sectors. Although there are a lot of disadvantages, the advantages are very enticing and important, especially in fintech. To determine if it is an advantage or disadvantage for your company, you need to determine which outweighs the other
Read Also: Intel To Lay Off Staffs Amid PC Slowdown.
Click here for more fintech topics.
