Why biometric authentication will revolutionize security
By Ricardo Amper, CEO and Founder of Incode
Digital technology was supposed to unlock faster, more convenient customer experiences. Instead, people protect sensitive data with risky passwords, documents, and security tokens. With so much at stake, we must ask why businesses and individuals still rely on outdated, discriminatory, and rigid systems for identity verification, especially when new technologies offer a different vision of the future.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and biometrics harness unique personal identifiers giving us a new way to authenticate and verify identity across global industries accurately and seamlessly. Passwords will soon be a thing of the past.
No more passwords
An estimated 24 billion passwords are exposed yearly on the dark web. In England, alone, fraud is now the most common crime, costing the UK economy £137 billion each year. In the U.S., PwC’s Global Economic Crime and Fraud 2022 Survey finds total losses of US$42 billion.
Today’s identity systems are heavily critiqued for being rigid and inflexible, failing to keep up with societal changes and developments in technology and most importantly, failing to keep people safe. They are also discriminators, failing to recognize and respect the diversity of identities and experiences within a population.
Traditional methods for protecting systems and resources aren’t working. Around the world, rigid and inflexible identity systems are lagging behind the changes in society and technological developments. Most importantly, they are failing to do the one thing they were designed for — keeping people safe online. To compound matters, they can also be discriminatory failing to recognize the diversity of identities and experiences within a population.
In 2023, people are clamoring for a better vision of the future. In biometrics, they have found it. By using methods, which are very difficult to steal or replicate, biometric authentication is showing itself to be both safe and convenient. No longer do they need
to remember passwords or carry documents — now they have everything they need on their person. The spread of devices with built-in biometric sensors, such as smartphones and laptops make it easier than ever for organizations to implement and deploy biometric authentication solutions.
Its secret weapon in the fight against fraud is AI. Like a virus, fraudsters adapt and find new ways to hack accounts. To combat this, organizations can turn to antifraud technologies based on AI and machine learning to out-evolve the attackers.
Biometrics for blockchain
The transformation of financial services through the rapidly evolving blockchain and cryptocurrencies requires a new approach to authentication. Previously, the idea of biometrics being used to authenticate blockchain users and organizations were associated with surveillance. However, biometrics are becoming universally accepted, matching the adoption rate and growing number of cryptocurrencies.
According to the annual Fidelity Digital Assets survey conducted by Fidelity Management, in which they surveyed 1,052 institutional money managers across North America, 58 percent of institutional investors surveyed bought cryptocurrency in the first half of 2022. Furthermore, 74 percent of those surveyed said that they intend to invest in cryptocurrency at some point in the future.
From the acceptance of cryptocurrencies to the distribution of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), more organizations are adopting various types of blockchain technology. In all these cases, the ability to positively verify the identities of people will be critical.
To meet demand and keep customers secure, organizations that have decided to adopt the use of blockchain must invest in technology that reinvents the way they verify and authenticate their customers’ identities. They have to protect user privacy and security and comply with government regulations.
This new, high-tech age needs an equally sophisticated form of verification that protects privacy quickly and securely. Biometrics can be that technology. Traditional forms of verification require people to hand over official identification such as a passport or driver’s license. However, these can be stolen and copied. They also include sensitive information which doesn’t always need to be shared for identity verification.
For example, bouncers, liquor store cashiers, and casino hosts don’t need your full address, name, or donor status to complete transactions. They only need to know that you meet the establishment’s age requirements.
Biometrics can do this simply with the customer providing a biometric sample such as a fingerprint, selfie, or iris scan. It’s faster, easier, and much more difficult for fraudsters to replicate.
Biometric authentication is going to be everywhere
Biometrics accurately automate verification and authentication for enterprises while simultaneously providing customers with maximum ease of use. Businesses in all sectors, including financial services, hospitality, travel and retail will want to reward loyalty and improve overall service without creating onerous experiences for customers.
Digital ID verification will also attract hospitals and health servicing to provide secure data access to the right people while preventing the wrong people from accessing health data.
Now more than ever, the stakes around protecting user data are so high and privacy means passwords are becoming a thing of the past. Biometric authentication technology is a force to be reckoned with. It offers the best of all worlds — a more personalized user experience, while securely preserving privacy.
About the author
Ricardo Amper is the founder & CEO of Incode Technologies. He has over 20 years of experience founding and leading companies. Ricardo has deep expertise in sales, marketing, production and leveraging cutting-edge technology to solve traditional business problems. In 2015, Ricardo founded Incode in San Francisco.
DISCLAIMER: Biometric Update’s Industry Insights are submitted content. The views expressed in this post are that of the author, and don’t necessarily reflect the views of Biometric Update.
