Biometric Passwords and What It Means For You

The world of passwords and security is always growing, as criminals are constantly finding new ways to circumvent or crack what protects things of true value. It’s why passwords now require numbers, symbols, capital letters, and more.

It’s also why many companies and individuals worried about security are turning to biometric passwords. It’s possible to steal or break a password, but it is much harder to fake a password that is made up of a fingerprint or a picture of a person‘s face.

As the technology improves, biometric passwords are likely to become a new norm, with every piece of sensitive information protected by something tied to a person’s unique body. Here are just some of the ways biometric passwords are being created and what it can mean for your security.

Fingerprints: Their Benefits and Flaws

Fingerprints are the most commonly used form of identifican and biometric security measure. For identifying people, fingerprints have been utilized since the 1890s. But back then, it required ink, paper, and a magnifying glass to compare them. Now, a fingerprint can be scanned with a simple sensor the size of button.

Fingerprints are easy to use and a great first step into biometric security. One of the major benefits to fingerprint security is that it’s extremely accessible. It simply requires a finger and a scanner of some sort to unlock.

Yet, among biometric securities, fingerprint scanners are often some of the least secure. Especially on scanners in smartphones, tricking the phone requires a dental mold of a finger to break in. If somebody gets hold of a good fingerprint, they could even create a 3D model of it, letting them gain access whenever they want. Fingerprints can also change over time, thanks to calluses and skin being rubbed off from overuse.

Using Your Face to Make Purchases

In the near future, you might no longer use pins or signatures to authorize purchases with a credit card but a picture of your face. Many companies and countries, especially China, are investigating using people’s faces as a security measure.

A major benefit to using photos of faces for authorization purposes is to cut down on fraud. There are multiple ways to commit credit card fraud, but requiring a photo of the authorizer at every purchase could help a lot in cutting it down.

This is a program Mastercard is already working on, in a sense. It would require installing an app on your smartphone and then when you are prompted to input a password, the app instead asks to take a photo of you. You take a snap, and the payment is sent.

China is testing and working on using facial recognition for security purposes. One highly popular tourist town has guests take a photo when checking into a hotel that also logs how long they have paid to stay in the town. Then, if they leave the town and come back in, they don’t need to pay again or have a ticket, they just scan their face. That way, the town can keep out people who haven’t paid the entry fee and doesn’t require visitors to constantly carry tickets.

Just like every new technology, there are problems with facial recognition. It is getting better, but many critics have concerns about how discerning the tech has to be in order to function. For example, how similar can a person look to another in order to access their account? What if a person wears makeup one day, but not another? Could identical twins access each other’s accounts with ease? All of these concerns must be handled before the technology is embraced by the masses.

Your Ears Are Unique

Similar to fingerprints, every person’s ears are unique and another possible tool for biometric security. But, ears come with a much larger benefit fingerprints lack: It is much harder to steal an ear than a fingerprint. On everything you touch, you leave a fingerprint that could possibly be lifted. It is much harder, though, to steal and recreate a person’s ear.

Similar to facial recognition, there are some flaws. Extreme piercings can ruin a scan, along with hair covering the ear, and poor lighting making it harder to get a good scan.

Severe Security Flaws in Biometrics

As exciting as it is to never have to remember a password again, biometrics have serious problems that need fixing before worldwide implementation. One of the major benefits to traditional passwords is their flexibility. If an account is compromised, a person simply needs to create a new password. But if a person can recreate a face or a fingerprint, they can reliably access any accounts secured by that body part. You can change a password, but you can’t easily change a body part.

Another barrier to biometrics is getting everybody on board and making good detection technology available. If some cheaper scanners are easy to trick, but the good tech is too expensive, people won’t trust biometrics as a whole. Since the technology is still new, if lots of people have their information stolen or exploited, nobody will want to use it in the future.

What are your thoughts on biometric security? Do you already use it in the form of a fingerprint scanner on your smartphone? Do you think it could replace the need for passwords entirely? Let us know in the comments below.