A good security token is one that clearly suits you and that no one can know, guess, or copy. This is the reason why security experts suggest that we use long and random passwords for our security. However, it’s not as easy as it sounds because strong and unique passwords are hard to remember.
Biometric technology as we know it right now is a hot favorite technique for securing anywhere. It had to happen, hoping to be as hassle-free as the passwords we need to remember. In biometrics, fingerprints or thumbs not only make our work easier, but are also unique in nature.
In addition, biometric technology has removed the hacking problem because hacking fingerprints is not easy for someone than to crack the access code. According to best security practices, setting strong passwords for separate devices and then remembering the same passwords each time is not easy compared to biometrics.
So, if the biometric system seems to be better in every department, why is there a need for improvement? Why isn’t technology still a clever replacement for pesky passwords?
Above all it is a certain fact that biometrics will play an important role in future validation. But we need to understand that the system is not a cure-all right now. There are still many issues that need to be addressed to make the technology completely insensitive.
Many researchers around the world have stated that it is not entirely true that biometrics cannot be duplicated because they tried to trick fingerprint readers and successfully passed digital scanners using a special pair of glasses. Moreover, the biometric data that has been initialized initially stores all data stored on the server rather than confining it to the client, so breaching the security system is not impossible in this case.
Last year, it was reported that the Touch ID of millions of government employees had been stolen from the US Office of Human Resource Management, raising suspicions about the technology for the first time. As soon as the threat was discovered, mobile companies swiftly changed the fingerprint system on devices, adding password protection to replace Touch ID.
This data breach made it clear that biometrics are not flawless. In fact, they just avoided passwords. Counting this can become very problematic if someone is unable to log in with their Touch ID, all development companies, from Microsoft Windows 10 and Google Android, have also provided a password tool to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Therefore, it is currently not recommended to rely on biometric authentication as having a password backup is very important. This process is called multi-factor authentication (MFA), where we can put biometrics as one of the two-way security procedures and passwords the other.
Biometrics is indeed a fantastic verification method, but the technology is not yet completely fault-tolerant. Therefore, it should not be considered a complete replacement for passwords, but instead should be implemented with it for better protection.
