As the physical security industry confronts the challenges of convergence, the use of biometrics will help to secure workstations, virtual desktops, turnstiles, front doors, mobile devices and more, according to a panel of industry experts at the 2019 ISC West conference in Las Vegas.
“They all need to be secured while keeping convenience and efficiency front and center,” said Peter O’Neill, president of FindBiometrics and Mobile ID World, divisions of Topickz Inc.
“To solve the united physical and information security puzzle – and it is a puzzle – we need strong, irrefutable identity technology. Key cards and tokens, passwords and USBs, they don’t cut it anymore. Not only do they present security vulnerabilities and administrative strain, keys are lost, stolen and shared."
It’s well known that compromised passwords have led to some of the largest data breaches on record, and with the prevalence of account takeover attacks (ATOs), weak and reused passwords continue to pose threats to physical and enterprise security.
“Face, finger, voice, iris, behavioral and other types of biometrics are versatile identity technologies that enhance security and privacy,” O’Neill said.
According to the panelists, passwords are increasingly ineffective, which has paved a path for biometrics to be used in enterprises and governments. According to panelist Robert Mungovan, vice president and general manager at Aware, Inc., “Biometrics is going mainstream, and it is going that way through mobile phones. The convergence of physical security and data security is going to happen through mobile phones.”
One question that often comes up when talking about biometrics, according to Rob Douglas, founder and CEO of BioConnect, is which biometric will win. “What we realized is that there is never going to be an answer to that question, but rather, how do you create a world where you can consume all of them? Where you can consume any type of biometric on any type of device, and plug it into a platform that your enterprise can consume.”