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Tech Experts Share 13 Essential Facts About Biometric Tech Everyone Should Know

Forbes Technology Council

Biometric technology has become more integrated into everyday life for many consumers. From facial recognition and fingerprint readers to airport body scanners and more, the technology is quickly becoming a security staple and is expected to continue expanding even further in our personal and professional lives.

Even so, the technology and all that it entails remains partly shrouded in mystery—outside the tech industry, many don’t fully understand how biometric technology works or how safe or reliable it is compared to other authentication measures. Below, 13 tech industry experts from Forbes Technology Council share some critical details everyone should know about this burgeoning technology.

1. There’s more to it than fingerprints.

Most people think of fingerprints and retina scans when they think of biometrics. However, the tech goes far beyond that. Typing cadence, mouse movements and more are used to biometrically identify one online. Facial features, physical movements and more can be used to identify one in the real world—for example, in a retail store. In terms of laws and regulations, it’s still a nascent technology. - Vikram Joshi, pulsd

2. It can provide advanced defense against fraud.

It’s great to have biometrics as a more modern, easy-to-use and strengthened method of authenticating logins. The built-in technology in phones and computers today enables a universal combination of personal biometrics with simple consumer use. The added security provides peace of mind with an advanced defense against identity theft, fraud and cybercrime. - Greg Fitzgerald, Sevco Security

3. The tech will soon be able to analyze human reactions.

We’re only seeing the beginnings of a biometrics revolution. The technology will get better at not only recognizing us but also at analyzing our reactions to things—our heart rate increases, pupil dilation and so on. In certain scenarios, this can be a good thing. But overall, we as a society are going to have to come together and define acceptable norms and boundaries for this technology. - Abhinai Srivastava, Mashgin, Inc.


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4. It can save time—and lives.

Biometric technology is important when facing disaster scenarios. This technology is quite efficient for first responders. I think that municipalities and organizations in general would do well to invest in it. Increased efficiencies during times of crisis are valuable for first responders. Implementing policies and technologies that improve processes by minutes and even seconds might save lives. - Jabari Butler, Healing Community Center

5. It may eliminate the need for carrying forms of payment.

Biometric identification is on the cusp of becoming mainstream. Whether it’s fingerprints, facial patterns or voice cadence, these identifiers will lead to more seamless and intuitive customer and user experiences in our day-to-day lives. Soon, it may even be possible to run shopping errands without any form of payment—all you’ll need to complete a financial transaction is yourself. - Marc Fischer, Dogtown Media LLC

6. Adaptation may become an issue.

Adaptation is the problem with all biometric technologies. Everyone wants something better than a password, but giving companies access to any kind of fingerprint, retina scan or facial recognition feels creepy and prevents 100% adoption in enterprise environments. If people don’t use the product, it’s not useful in the end. Biometrics needs to fix its image with the general public, not CTOs. - Tom Roberto, Core Technology Solutions

7. Certain biometric features could be copied.

By definition, you can’t change your biometric signatures. External biometric features such as fingerprints could be copied and published. As long as fingerprint scanners are vulnerable to fake fingers I would be careful using those—especially as a public figure. Sooner or later you’re running out of non-published fingerprints to unlock your phone. - Gerrit Rindermann, Lambs

8. It’s not immune to hacking.

Once digitally captured, biometric data will be targeted by hackers and breached. It is one thing to have to change a password, a credit card number or even a Social Security number. But we cannot change our fingerprints, retina and DNA. The public is not aware of the danger of losing control of one’s biometric data and how it may be used to attack their privacy. - Juliette Rizkallah, SailPoint

9. Privacy regulations are lacking.

While security is enhanced for identity and access management via biometric technology, the public should be cautious about the risks of misuse. The current regulatory and privacy roadmap has been slow to consider and adapt to the widespread use of biometric technologies. Use beyond consumer-oriented applications such as mobile face ID or touch ID systems will require the regulatory framework to be firmed up. - Venkat Rangan, Clari Inc.

10. People’s conversations may be recorded without their knowledge.

Access security—such as access to a phone or a laptop using biometrics—is on the positive side of this technology. The negative, however, is access to recorded background conversations from voice-enabled biometric devices used in the algorithms to fine-tune the user experience of such devices. - Amanda Dorenberg, COMMB

11. Scanning errors could lead to access issues.

It doesn’t work like it does in the movies—no one is going to cut off your hand or steal your eyeball to break into your PC. However, one problem is error rates. Subtle errors in scanning can leave an authorized employee locked out of important work. - Kevin Parikh, Avasant

12. Training bias may affect its accuracy.

While biometric technology is here to stay, owing to inadequacies in design and accuracy, it is not entirely foolproof. There have been instances in security and surveillance in which facial recognition technology has wrongfully linked faces and names, leading to unwarranted arrests. Often datasets used to train AI systems are unrepresentative and biased, causing legal implications that include identity theft. - Sayandeb Banerjee, TheMathCompany

13. It’s wise to layer it with other security measures.

You’ll want to layer your ID methods to minimize the flaws inherent in each. You can copy a person’s biometric scan—their fingerprint, facial photo and so on—when it is passed between systems and resubmit it with future requests. Biometric markers also change over time, so they are not always reliable. Biometrics can be useful as added layers of identification when granting access, but the technology needs to be secured. - Sarah McKenna, Sequentum Inc.

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