Today large-scale application of Biometrics technology and its generated data is a reality for unique identification purpose of individuals. Biometrics accounts for the measurement and statistical analysis of people’s physical and behavioral characteristics. The technology is mainly used for identification and access control, or for identifying individuals that are under surveillance. The basic premise of biometric authentication is that everyone is unique and an individual can be identified by his or her intrinsic physical or behavioral traits. The Global biometrics market stood at $ 12.84 billion in 2016, and is projected to reach $ 29.41 billion by the end of 2022, on the back of rising adoption of biometric tools across banking & finance, consumer electronics, travel, government, defense, healthcare and other sectors. In an interaction with ELE Times, Sujan Parthasaradhi, Director of Biometric Applications, APAC, Biometrics, HID Global, throws some light on the Biometrics Industry and its adoption in India and Asia.
ELE Times: What are the trends of Biometrics Adoption in Asia?
Sujan Parthasaradhi: Asia Pacific is rapidly growing biometric markets. Major programs and initiatives contributing to increasing biometric adoption include: (i) biometric based National ID programs, (ii) biometrics authentication for banking and payment applications (iii) Government to citizen ID programs providing healthcare and other benefits (iv) growing smart phone penetration, and (v) use of biometric terminals in public and private enterprises for time-attendance and access control. Biometric solutions are providing a convenient way for users to confirm their identity while reducing identity fraud losses for businesses and governments.
ELE Times: Please tell about the different applications of Biometrics from wearable’s to security, prominent in Asia?
Sujan Parthasaradhi: Biometrics plays an increasingly important role in many markets and applications by validating “who” you are because knowing “who” really matters for reliable identity management.
- Banking and financial services use biometrics for validating the identity of a person making a transaction at an ATM or POS terminal.
- Hospitals and other healthcare organizations use biometrics for patient management, validating patients’ access to medical care, authenticating healthcare providers prescribing and administering medications
- Governments widely use biometric technology for immigration/border control, citizen ID offering medical care, public distribution, and pension payments and for other citizen benefits.
- Commercial organizations use biometrics for ensuring accurate employee attendance, as well as physical and logical access applications
- Cellular phone service provider use biometrics for issuance of sim cards and phones
- Amusement parks use biometrics to prevent ticket fraud and attendees.
ELE Times: What are the emerging trends and technologies in Biometrics?
Sujan Parthasaradhi:
- Biometric liveness detection to ensure the biometric data is from a real person and some fake or imposter
- Encryption technology to ensure the biometric “yes/no” result is not altered by malware or other cyber-attacks
- Single & Multi biometric devices
- Border Control & E-passports to ensure only authorized people can pass through borders
- Multi-channel Authentication solution (biographic + biometric enrollment) for different modes of banking
ELE Times: How will Mobile Biometrics’ taking over from touch to face to iris recognition will impact security?
Sujan Parthasaradhi: The fingerprint modality is still the most common biometric modality in use today. This is because the technology is proven in many use cases and provides interoperability, ease of use, and user acceptance. Iris data is collected in many National ID projects, Aadhaar and is used for verification in some government programs. With the exponential increase in the use of mobile devices for user authentication in the commercial space, especially for banking applications, voice recognition and “selfie passwords” are becoming more common, but they can be impacted in noisy environments and from poor lighting conditions.
Biometric technology is experiencing many changes and increasing acceptance, so expect to see continued innovations across many different biometric modalies.
ELE Times: What are the prospects of Fintech or digital banking through Biometrics in Asia?
Sujan Parthasaradhi: Biometrics can enable strong user authentication in banking for both customer-facing and employee-facing use cases.
Customer-facing:
- Account Setup: to ensure someone is who they claim to be, biometrics can be used during account setup.
- ATM’s and Self-Service Kiosks: As banks look to lower costs, they rely more on automated systems to streamline customer interactions.
- Employee-facing:
- Teller Authentication: for monitor and track teller interactions with bank customers.
- Call Centers: To Know “who” is accessing specific accounts, and preventing fraudulent use of shared credentials with strong audit trail
- Core Banking Services: from trading desks, to bank-bank or bank-business wire transfers, and other internal bank operations.
