As with any influential and rapidly deployed technology, biometric technology has many facets and there are a number of dynamics that users ought to bear in mind, says Marius Coetzee, chief operations officer at Ideco Biometric Security Solutions.
Worldwide, Coetzee says, governments and industry groups are stepping in and mandating the use of sophisticated biometric systems in identity management solutions.
He notes that there are various biometric products available on the market and even more claims from the manufacturers.
However, he points out that on paper these products seem fully compliant but over time the optic sensitivity fades and image noise increases to the extent that security is compromised due to the many false acceptances.
“So, it is important to scrutinise the credentials, track record, market experience, level of technical skills and overall knowledge before partnering with a service provider. This is one area where standards have to be adhered to without any compromise,” Coetzee says.
According to Coetzee, available research shows that biometric technology falls under two distinct headings, namely behavioural and physical.
“Loosely defined, the former is used to scrutinise natural characteristics and is applied for verification purposes. Examples include voice recognition in call centres and signature verification - typically in the banking environment for cheque clearing”.
Fingerprint biometrics, he adds, is globally regarded the most mature technology with more than 64% of all applications based on it. “These biometric devices have evolved to the extent that they have now found applications for bank ATM identification, transaction authorisation and secure login.”
He explains that besides the obvious size of the scanner, image resolution, compliancy to FBI and NIST standards, size of the database and speed of identification; there are many not so technical specifications to also consider for biometric deployments.
Locally, he says: “This is prevalent with the recent announcement of the Department of Home Affairs to allow online fingerprint verification against the national population register (HANIS) as well as the South African Post Office offering identity certification under the mandate of the ECT Act.
Coetzee says some of the key pointers in selecting a technology platform include best class image processing and minutia filtering; template processing and matching algorithms; as well as compliance with all industry standards. He adds that the systems must also have proven reliability with local support.
Before considering a biometric application, Coetzee advices organisations to always ask a few pertinent questions, including: “What are the chief objectives or main purpose behind deploying the technology? Is it security, access control, improved data or to 'know your customer?' Or all of the above.”
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