A host of problems is keeping biometric security from becoming a mainstream application, a panel of experts at this year’s RSA Conference concluded.
“The largest complaint at biometrics conferences is that every year people say that: ‘This is the year of biometrics.’ And then they come back the next year and say: ‘Maybe this is the year of biometrics,'” said Richard Lazarick, chief technologist at CSC Global Security Solutions.
One of the major problems, Lazarick argued, that prevents biometrics from becoming mainstream is lack of agreed standards. This prevents organisations from using equipment from several vendors in creating interoperable networks such as a global network of airports using a single database with iris scan information.
Biometric security uses unique body features for identification or authorisation and could potentially replace smartcards and passwords. Common applications base authentication on finger prints, iris, face and voice and vein scans.
The panel conceded finger print scanners are readily available with many notebook makers offering such technology as an option with their business models. However, it was argued that availability of hardware was not enough to guarantee adoption of biometrics.
“But just because you have the hardware, that doesn’t mean that each person who uses it will use it in such a way that you get value for the organisation,” warned Samir Nanavati, a partner with Biometric Group (IBG), an independent consultancy organisation.
“You might be seeing a false sense of hardware prevalence in the market space now.”
Biometrics are often painted as bullet proof security, as the technology is hard to forge because it provides authentication based on unique physical characteristics. That image however can be somewhat of a myth, according to the panel. Many of the low end fingerprint scanners can be easily spoofed using a plain photo copy of the actual print or by using Play-Doh clay or specially crafted rubber overlays.
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