The surge in financial crimes has caused a hassle in the business sector. The continuously evolving technology has transformed the traditional ways of business to a considerable extent. Where the technological advancements have significantly eased the business processes and optimised them, it has also paved ways for the criminals to swoop in with their evil intentions. Since almost every single business process is on the path to digitization, the fraudsters have relatively been enjoying the transformation. This is because of the weak security systems that are easily exploited by Biometric Recognition.
New and Improved Security Systems
The gap, however, has been filled by the regulatory authorities by introducing biometric authentication security systems. Although the present security systems were strong, they lacked adequate measures to detect suspicious activities, making it easier for fraudsters with fake identities to disrupt the systems. The businesses have been saved from the mishaps by the introduction of biometric screening that performs the ID authentication processes in a matter of seconds.
What makes biometric authentication extremely accurate and reliable is that the identity of the person is authenticated on the basis of unique biometric identifiers that cannot be replicated. The distinguishable biological measurements or physical characteristics of the customers make it difficult for the scammer to carry fake identities.
How Biometric Recognition Works?
Considering the accurate results generated by biometric verification systems, they are rising as an advanced layer in the security systems, be it personal or corporate. The unique identifiers of biological or behavioural traits have made biometric recognition a standalone authentication. Fingerprint mapping, voice recognition, facial recognition and retina and iris scans are some of the most common techniques of biometric authentication. Researchers often claim a person’s gait, their way of walking and the shape of their ear to be the unique identifiers. The process begins by comparing the live biometric sample with that already stored in the database.
However, biometric security systems are commonly listed into three major categories;
- Morphological Biometrics: The most common form of biometric verification that involves body structures and physical traits to authenticate the user’s identity. Physical characteristics as the eye, fingerprint or the face shape may be scanned for security purposes.
- Biological Biometrics: Identifying an individual on the basis of his biological traits i.e at the genetic level. That includes the DNA or blood samples.
- Behavioural Biometrics: Behavioural biometrics identify a person based on unique traits as the way he walks, speaks or sits.
Hence, the measurement and thorough analysis of a person’s behavioural and physical traits makes the biometric identity process stand out from the rest. The conventional security processes were subjected to breach of sensitive data and criminals could easily come up with fake identities, exploiting the security network. Hence the need to get strong biometric verification systems integrated in the business network became essential. The technological advancements solved this problem by using biometrics for security purposes.
Purpose of Biometric Recognition
Biometric recognition includes both the biometric identification and verification processes that initiate the authentication by first searching the person’s biometric trait against that stored in the database and returning the reference (identification) and then confirming the identity through comparison (verification). The main purpose that this particular security technique is adopted is:
- Authenticating Customer Identities: The biometric authentication protocols require the user to go through a detailed process of identification and verification that compares his live biometric trait to that of the sample in the database. Biometric ID prevents criminals from concealing their identities and scam businesses.
- Deduplicating the Identity Records: The biometric security systems make the users go through the duplicate biometric enrollment check that ensures each person in the database is unique. This step involves comparing the captured data to all the biometric templates stored in the database in order to ensure that no duplicate registration exists.
Practical Usage of Biometric Verification
Almost all businesses have adopted online biometric verification for maintaining stronger security systems. These systems are also integrated in mobile phones where the user gets the option of either unlocking the phone through fingerprint or facial recognition. The digital advancements have made it easier for people to get verified via phones. Considering the rise in biometric technology integration in the present era, the global biometric identity verification market is expected to generate a revenue of approximately 104,959.6 million by 2028. Among any other business sectors, the Financial Institutions, the IT sector and the Government is involved the most in the implementation of biometric security systems. Along with other sectors, the tourism industry is also benefiting from biometric technology by making biometric passports and ID cards mandatory.