Biometrics the next level in Security?

According to an article written in December by the wall street journal, about 28% of the worlds’ airports now use biometric technology to search passengers, that’s up 18% in 2008.

As the world moves more to automated airport security, the looming concern is - will airport security personnel become too reliant?  Last year, in London, Gatwick airport experimented with 3000 passengers using a biometric scanner.  To scan the iris of passengers instead of using a boarding pass when they first checked in.  Now entered into the system, cameras can identify the travelers at security checkpoints and gates automatically.   Advocates believe this technology will make boarding passes obsolete.   The concern with the human factor is that screeners will become too dependent, and thus would dull their senses.  An argument was made that scanning the iris will identify you, but checking someone’s identification and noticing a passenger is sweating profusely is something biometrics does not implore. As a curious note - European Airports have embrace the technology much faster than in the United States.

But is biometrics credible?  To answer that  - the leading company behind its development and creation is “Integrated Biometrics”.  Founded in 2002, and headquarters in South Korea & South Carolina, they are the developer and manufacturer of FBI certified fingerprint biometric sensors.  That utilizes a patent called ‘LES’ (Light Emitting Sensor).   The company slogan is LES is more.  With world class Algorithms – meaning the encryption of the technology is virtually impossible to break or hack into.  Its light weight, durable, powerful, with long battery life, and delivers at fast speeds. 

 

In Florida, Both Universal Studios & Walt Disney World uses biometric measurements from fingers of guest to ensure that a ticket is used by the same person from day to day.  In Toronto, the public transit system uses biometrics in their security surveillance. It’s also a method to secure their drivers; select personnel can only access cameras on buses or in stations. Those select few with biometric clearance can retrieve the data on cameras, preventing any outside tampering.

For consumer friendly technology, one needs to look no further than the smartphone. Apple has introduced in its the next generation  a fingerprint scanner.  The iPhone 5S & 5C contains ‘Touch ID” which reads the user’s fingerprints in order to unlock the phone.   The sensor is located on the home button of the iPhone.

IView Systems focuses mainly on facial recognition technology, that technology has been sold to casinos to help keep track of undesirable customer; now that technology has shown it is not 100 % reliable in poor lighting conditions or if there is too much movement.  So security industry are leaning more to fingerprint, DNA, and Iris Scanning methods which have more definitive results. 

On the flip side to that last statement you here gruesome stories of removed fingers, or copying your fingerprint from a glass, so there is always that ambivalent argument to be made, on what is considered foolproof.