If you had to choose between the use of passwords and personal identification numbers and not using any, which would be your pick? What if you could have extra security and added convenience by not using any passwords ever again?
Surprisingly, this no-password technology is here and is growing rapidly. It is called biometrics, and you will travel this road in no time.
Biometric involves the use of automated methods of recognizing an individual based on their physical or behavioral characteristics. Some common commercial examples are fingerprint, face, iris, hand geometry, voice and dynamic signature recognition.
Looking back, do you remember the day you decided to switch from dial-up to the new broadband technology? Biometrics will have the same effect once adopted by the masses.
The decision to switch to broadband had two common denominators: speed and convenience.
In the password world, the same analogy applies. What if you could achieve higher security combined with added convenience and efficiency without ever using passwords? Is this a good justification for another major revolution? Perhaps not yet, because many react to implementing security only after experiencing crisis.
The solution that could simplify password security issues is biometrics. Biometrics provides an additional layer of security, efficiency and convenience for both users and IT administrators alike. The passwords are always there if you should need to use them. Nevertheless, you can implement a simple policy to use back-door passwords - say 30 characters long so no hacker or program can easily break it - and use biometric authentication for all logins, applications and secured Internet sites.
Here are a few facts you should know about most biometric solutions:
In general, biometric is a non-intrusive solution. Using biometrics, the fingerprint image is converted into often-encrypted binary data and stored onto the hard drive. Reverse engineering to convert this data back into the fingerprint image, is virtually impossible. More on Biometric
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