The daily operations of many companies include multiple processes, increasingly over the Internet. Most of them usually require a final validation, i.e. they need to be authenticated in order to be executed.
Biometrics is the mechanism to recognize a person through a unique and non-transferable trait. This tool has become one of the most effective identification, security and control mechanisms today.
Reducing fraud by impersonation
Security in banking institutions has been increasingly reduced due to robberies, some of them violent, but also due to identity theft. Thousands of people have been victims of digital fraud, so biometric controls were established to verify the identity of account holders.
This conquest is now gradually extending to laptops: several Windows-based computers integrate one of these two options, and MacBooks have also begun to include a TouchID sensor. A patent now reveals that in the future they could also make the leap to FaceID sensors, and that raises a debate: which is better for the laptop and the mobile, the fingerprint validation sensor or facial recognition?
Fingerprint sensors are becoming an integral part of all smartphones: Android mobile manufacturers also embraced this trend, and soon we saw increasingly efficient and faster sensors for unlocking the phone.
In the case of fingerprints, biometrics are biological measurements or physical characteristics, which can be used to identify people. Fingerprint classification is an excellent system for digital authentication because the physical characteristics are relatively constant and distinguishable.
Biometrics are being incorporated into electronic passports around the world. In the United States, electronic passports are equipped with a chip containing the wearer’s iris, fingerprint or a digital photograph of the wearer’s face. This technology prevents unauthorized data readers from performing full, cursory reads of the data on the chip.
Improve customer experience
Unauthorized access becomes more difficult when systems require multiple means of authentication, such as fingerprint detection and matching encrypted samples with users within encrypted domains. In order to thwart malicious attacks, some security systems also include additional features such as all fingers of both hands in the biometric data.
A common biometric system comprises five components:
- A sensor is used to collect data and convert the information into digital format.
- Signal processing algorithms that perform quality control activities and develop biometric templates.
- A data storage component that contains the information against which the new biometric templates are compared.
- A matching algorithm that compares the new biometric templates with one or more of the stored templates.
- And finally, a decision process (either automatic or manual) that uses the results of the matching component to make a system-based decision.
The most commonly implemented and studied biometric modalities are fingerprint validation, face, iris, voice, signature and hand geometry. Many other modalities are in various stages of development and evaluation.
There are many factors to consider when implementing a biometric device, including location, security risks, task (identification or verification), estimated number of users, user circumstances, existing data, etc.
At Tekbees we create solutions with biometric technology, and specifically, our facial recognition process is internationally certified. Contact us!
