The panelists at the industry publication Find Biometrics’ recent webinar agreed that the growing use of the mobile device as a personal authenticator increases the requirements for secure biometrics. The seamless combination of fingerprint technology with other biometric modalities, as well as liveness detection, will deliver strong authentication without compromising the user experience that ignited the biometric revolution in the first place.
“There is excitement in mobile biometrics, very much reminiscent of the mobile revolution that occurred in the wake of the touch ID release in 2013,” said Peter O’Neill, president of Find Biometrics and moderator at the webinar “New Frontiers in Mobile Biometrics.” He did not get any objections from the panel. Frances Zelazny, Vice President at the biometric security company BioCatch, talked about the mobile phone‘s becoming the personal authenticator for every human activity, “whether it is a ticket at the airport, accessing sensitive health data or authenticating bank transactions.”
“We will see more biometrics in our mobiles, more modalities that improve user experience and enhance security through multi-factor authentication, via fingerprints, face and behavior,” said Fredrik Clementson, R&D Director at Precise Biometrics. He underlined that fingerprint technology in combination with face or iris scanning offers more convenient and secure multi-factor authentication than a fingerprint combined with a pin code.
David Pollington, Senior Director, Technology, at the mobile industry organization GSMA talked about a multitude of sensors on the mobile device working together to continuously authenticate the user for different applications.
New regulations will accelerate the use of biometric multi-factor authentication for payments. David Pollington pointed to the fact that regulations like PSD2 and GDPR are driving the market towards safeguarding customers’ or account holders’ identity and data, without necessarily creating any obstacles in the process.
The growing importance of standards was highlighted as essential to ensuring the security of biometric solutions. As mobile biometrics expand to low-end devices, Fredrik Clementson pointed out the risk of low-cost mobiles performing at a lower security level to ensure the expected user experience. He therefore welcomed the work of trusted authorities such as FIDO and the Chinese CAICT to set standards for biometric performance and liveness detection to ensure good biometric solutions.
As for the question, “What do you see as the single largest opportunity in mobile biometrics now?” Fredrik Clementson pointed to a major technology shift in the fingerprint sensor market with optical and ultrasound sensors that can be placed in and under the display. This has become a hot topic in the industry following the introduction of smartphones with edge-to-edge displays. “For us, in and under display sensors present big opportunities as our software works with all sensor technologies.”
CLICK HERE to listen to the webinar and find out more about the developments and opportunities in mobile biometrics.
