Biometric authentication has quickly become one of the fastest growing forms of identification. Its benefits include fraud detection, increased conversion rates and customer satisfaction gains.

Before implementing biometrics into your organisation, it is essential to assess its risks. These may include cost, reliability, privacy and security considerations.

Costs

Biometric authentication has become increasingly popular as an effective way of protecting sensitive data. It may provide greater security than passwords and PINs while being easier for us to use.

Biometric technology may also be costly to implement due to requiring additional hardware such as readers and scanners.

Physical biometrics such as fingerprinting or hand scanning tend to have higher prices; however, technological advancements and new entrants to the market have resulted in reduced biometric prices.

Biometric authentication can be an ideal choice for many different applications, from access control to financial services and banking. This method helps prevent identity theft and fraud while strengthening customer loyalty and adhering to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

Reliability

Biometric authentication is an identity verification technique that utilizes biological characteristics unique to an individual in order to authenticate them as genuine. It is widely employed by government agencies, retailers, banks and other organizations that store personal data.

System works by comparing an individual’s biometric data against a reference model stored in a database; typically created through fingerprint or iris scanners.

Comparing unique characteristics with that of the reference model allows for fast and reliable identification solutions, as well as authentication.

Only authorized users are able to access accounts and complete transactions, while it also ensures that user data does not become vulnerable and compromised.

Physical and behavioral biometrics are two primary categories of biometrics. Physical biometrics is by far the more popular of the two; it measures individual physical traits such as fingerprints, hand geometry (length/width ratios), or an individual’s iris pattern.

Privacy

Biometrics refer to physical and behavioral traits used to verify an individual’s identity, such as fingerprints, iris scans or face recognition technology.

Biometrics offer unique authentication that cannot be duplicated or compromised, confirming faster than other authentication methods.

Biometric technology does present some potential privacy issues; for instance, when someone provides their fingerprints to a commercial company they run the risk of having their information shared with law enforcement and immigration authorities.

Breaching someone’s personal data may reveal sensitive medical conditions or details they don’t want shared publicly, prompting some states to pass biometric privacy laws to protect individuals’ identities.

To reduce these risks, companies and governments should work collaboratively in developing digital identity ecosystems. This requires having an in-depth knowledge of data protection impact assessments, policy, and technical safeguards.

Security

Biometric authentication has become an increasingly popular security measure, helping reduce data breaches and hacker attacks by eliminating the need to memorize complex passwords or PIN codes through unique physical or behavioral characteristics of its users.

Biometrics offer several key advantages over other forms of identification systems, chief among them being their invulnerability to hacking attempts due to modern algorithms not yet being capable of reconfiguring fingerprint patterns and images for malicious use.

Fingerprints and faceprints are difficult to duplicate; in fact, there’s only a chance in 64 billion that someone else’s fingerprint matches your own.

Companies often opt for biometric authentication over other authentication methods due to its enhanced security benefits and because biometrics can provide faster and more convenient authentication than passwords or PINs.