Biometric verification – Threats and its Importance

Biometric verification

User identity is becoming a crucial aspect of the online marketplace as it prevents online frauds and digital scams. Frequent cashback requests can also be reduced to minimal with the help of user authentication systems but there are several problems when it comes to client authentication systems. The most vital problem is related to the time taken by these solutions to verify the identity of the users. This is mostly dependent on the mode of verification that is used to verify the identity. The majority of identity verification solutions are dependent on the original identity documents while others prefer biometric identification of a person.

How Important is Biometric Verification?

Biometric features of a human being are mostly unique and require little to no special effort to differentiate between a scammer and an original user. They act as unique identification markers enabling businesses and user identification solutions to verify the identity of new and existing customers in nearly real-time thus upgrading the processing speed of customer onboarding. Biometric identification solutions, in general work on fingerprint scanners or iris scanners but the major problem with this kind of user verification is that it is both costly as well as limited in the use.

The cost goes up because of the specialized hardware-based verifications that are necessary for capturing the unique and specialized biometric data from the users. Collection of that uniquely identifiable data means that the organization or business performing that verification has to make a substantial investment not only in the hardware equipment but they also need to make sure that the data collected is transmitted, stored and protected in line with legal compliances governing their operations.

Biometric Verification via Facial Features

Now that we have discussed the importance and viability of biometric verification for the sustainable growth of organizations with online businesses, it is important that we determine that which form of biometric identification is more business friendly.

As we have already discussed it in the above lines that fingerprint scanners and iris detection solutions are costly and become an almost insignificant form of verification for business models that require clients to perform online or remote identity verification. There was a lot of enthusiasm for the use of these two technologies when smartphones with fingerprint scanners were introduced but unfortunately, the steep price of mobile phones with these features has made it impossible for online businesses to perform biometric verification remotely with the help of fingerprints or iris scans.

This leaves online businesses with only facial verification as a viable option for biometric identification. Mostly, advanced biometric solutions have been developed in a way to capture the unique facial features of an incoming user and match them with pre-existing facial records of incoming users.

Biometric signups and identification of a user via biometric features create an opportunity for the online platforms to get rid of age old business practices of verifying the credentials of a user with the help of password-protected logins and even recently made obsolete method of 2 Factor Authentication.

Instead, online systems are now being used to make the entire client lifecycle automated and biometric verifications are the most suitable format to verify the identity of a customer before they register themselves with an identity document or through a credit card. This will not only safeguard future user experience from identity theft or account takeover but it will also protect the business interests of the organization offering online services to its clients.

How Facial Verification is more Authentic

Features like liveness detection and anti facial spoofing technology makes the biometric identification solutions an appropriate alternative to fingerprint scanning and iris-based identification. This means that only the cost of the solution has to be paid by the vendor instead of paying for both the hardware as well as the solution, like in the case of fingerprint scanners.

Facial features and the unique biometric markers that help a biometric identification solution to differentiate between an original user and scammer is state of the art in detecting any attempt of fraudulent verification or spoofing.

Things to consider before using a Biometric System

Things to consider before using a Biometric System

It is important to weigh in on all the consequences attached to important business technology and most of all to a solution that can act as a make or break business move for your business venture. So it is crucial that any business entity that plans to integrate a biometric verification solution with its existing platform or website, makes sure that all their bases are covered when it comes to compliance, regulatory guidelines and the related tactical homework that needs to be done regarding sensitive data of the end-users that will be collected during the verification process.

Account takeover is one of the major concerns of online businesses when it comes to digital fraud and identity theft manoeuvres. Biometric verification provides a foolproof prevention plan against these kinds of frauds. But the lessons learnt during recent debacle of FaceApp means that quality of service is not the only thing that can help a business to bring onboard a large clientele but it also means that the entire compliance and privacy policy needs to be airtight before the implementation of such a solution.

With regulations like GDPR, it has become harder for online businesses to integrate a biometric identification solution without showing any regard for user rights. Especially with credentials as vital as facial features, the scrutiny of a global business that takes the regulatory guidelines lightly will be truly diligent in letter and spirit.

Conclusion

Like any new technology, biometric authentication are going to play a vital part in taking online marketplace and digital service delivery models to the next level. But it is important that protection against online frauds is not earned at the cost of the rights and privacy of online users that have trusted their private and personal information with their favoured online platform. Instantaneous verifications can be achieved by online businesses without having to spend a fortune on identity verification modules but the responsibility of using the verification solution responsibly is also important.

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