‘Biometrics’ Articles

Identity Theft is a huge and growing problem. According to the recent 2009 Identity Theft Fraud report by Javelin Strategy & Research, victims increased 22% in 2008 to 9.9 million. When businesses are involved, the companies face billions of dollars in theft, millions of dollars in fines and, perhaps most important, the loss of customer trust.

The large impact that identity theft has on individuals lives and corporations’ bottom lines has made inexpensive biometrics look attractive for authenticating employees, customers, citizens, students and any other people we want to recognize. The most recent debate is on whether the pros outweigh the cons.

Biometrics uses physical characteristics, such as fingerprints, DNA, or retinal patterns to positively verify individuals. These biological identifiers are electronically converted to a string of ones and zeros and stored on file in the authenticator database.

The downside or weakness of biometrics is that the risk of data breach remains relatively the same. Just as a credit card number can be stolen, the numbers that make up your biometrics and are stored in a database can be stolen.  It may take longer for thieves to understand how to use these new pieces of information, but they will eventually be used.

According to a new Gallup poll of identity theft statistics, 66% of adults worry the most about their identities being stolen.

Gallup trends measuring Americans’ fear of being victims of specific crimes date back several decades, but for each of 10 crimes, the question has been updated annually on Gallup’s Crime survey since 2000. Terrorism was added to the list in 2001, and 2009 marks the first year identity theft has been included.  Gallup says the reason for big worries about identity theft might have to do with the high-profile attention lawmakers and identity-protection firms have been placing on it.

Besides identity theft statistics on American’s fear of identity theft, they also polled on the steps they would take to prevent it. Biometrics is the clear winner. Biometrics refers to methods for uniquely recognizing humans based upon one or more built-in physical or behavioral traits (fingerprint, voice pattern, gait pattern, retinal scan, etc.).  In particular, biometrics is used as a form of Identity Access Management and it is also used to identify individuals in groups that are under surveillance. According to the Gallup Survey, 58% percent of Americans said they would use biometrics to verify their identities, as long as the biometric data was secured, while 38% said they would not use biometrics. The lack of daily use of these methods causes some Americans to be hesitant at first until they are more familiar.