Biometrics Likely to Soon Replace Passwords, Experts Say

Biometric authentication is all set to replace the traditional username-and-password style of login, thanks in large part to the fast-evolving Internet of Things. There will simply be too many devices and network authentications to keep track of so many usernames and passwords, so biometrics, or access verification based on a body part like voice, fingerprint, or retinal scan will have to do. There are expected to be 2 billion smartphones that use biometric identification by 2020, according to a study done by Biometric Research Group done in 2015. And, it’s not only huge financial corporations like VISA who are interested in getting biometrics authentication implemented; it’s governments, healthcare providers, and industry consortiums like FIDO Alliance. It’s also the consumers of tech products and industry services who will be demanding authentication solutions such as biometrics as the century grows heavy with cybersecurity concerns.

Independent market research shows that a high percentage of consumers already anticipate biometric verification as a solution to the growing trend of cyber threat and attack via unauthorized account access. VISA’s own study shows that roughly two-thirds of Europeans would vote for biometrics for financial transactions, if there were a vote on it tomorrow. These studies are also showing, however, a schism among those polled, with a significant percentage still dubious about giving over bodily identification for account access. Many would like to see biometrics integrated with other means of acquiring security credentials, rather than as a single method of verifying their identity.

Gizbot names the “5 Best Biometric Alternatives That Can Replace Passwords” as:

• Retina or Iris Scanner
• Facial Recognition
• Voice Recognition
• Heartbeat
• Fingerprint

A Sept. 6 article by Chief Strategy Officer Michael Lynch of Help Net Security claims that, “All the available evidence indicates our password-based security system is broken.” This backs up the statement at the outset of this article that it will be impossible to keep track of so many usernames and passwords for everything in the IoT universe that’s coming fast upon us. Biometrics makes more and more sense as you examine the heaps of evidence that stand against things like keeping master lists of accumulating login info on the computers and devices themselves, as is often the case with employees and individual account-holders alike.

What do we really have to fear, except the immanent cyber breach itself due to using outmoded, outdated security verification methods? The answer seems to lie in closely-monitored (and integrated) biometrics tools or procedures, which are then tweaked when anything “fishy” occurs during biometrics-authenticated sessions.

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