TrendFingerprint leads biometric technologies among the security-conscious

According to Walter Hamilton, chair of the International Biometrics Industry Association (IBIA), “Biometrics offers not only a higher assurance of verification but a greater ease of use, in many applications, than issuing ID cards, complex passwords and PIN numbers to remember.” He also points out that wider use of biometrics has driven prices down which makes the technology even more ubiquitous in everyday applications. Chip Mesec writes in Computer Technology Review that in IT environments, desk space is always at a premium. Whether designed into a laptop or appended to a desktop PC, fingerprint biometric readers are most often chosen by system designers and system integrators. Recent reports show fingerprint readers are found embedded in notebook computers from nine of today’s top ten suppliers including Dell, Fujitsu, HP, IBM, Lenovo, and Toshiba. USB-attached fingerprint readers take less desk space that a coffee cup while clearly delivering convenience and security in the IT domain.

Mesec writes that Internet reports have described complex procedures for fooling fingerprint readers, but these are by no means quick or easy. They almost always involve lifting a latent print, enhancing it, scanning it, digitally processing the image, printing a film of the image, etching a printed circuit board with strong acids, then molding a 3-D model of the finger with gelatin or other substances. This is hardly practical for malicious hackers. In almost all reported cases, the person whose fingerprint was spoofed cooperated in the process. Nevertheless, as with any security technology, there’s no 100 percent guarantee. An added security option is data access authentication requiring a finger from each hand. This means the user touches the fingerprint reader twice, significantly reducing any chance of a fake finger permitting access.

It is thus not surprising that in its 2007 report on biometrics, Acuity Market Intelligence of Louisville, Colorado stated that biometrics will become a preferred method of authentication with increasingly sophisticated capture technology.

Innovative fingerprint biometric applications are evolving at a fast pace, and becoming integrated into our daily lives as a matter of convenience for quick secure access to goods, services, and data. From commercial and public building access, to retail banking, payment at kiosks, and securing popular consumer notebooks, the simplicity and ease of adoption are compelling for businesses of all sizes. “Fingerprint biometrics is quickly becoming a data security ‘must have’ across multiple vertical markets as the convenience, power and versatility of the technology take hold,” Mesec concludes.