Biometric identification has gone from being shown only in sci-fi movies to a common habit, such as unlocking mobile devices with an iris scanner or facial recognition, or verifying identity when opening a bank account, among other everyday scenarios. Nevertheless, with the advent of the coronavirus, the need for digital tools that facilitate remote identification and avoid interpersonal contact has become more important than ever.
According to Statista, the market value of biometrics is expected to reach $ 55.42 billion in 2027. In addition, from the same organization, they predict that global spending in the identity verification market will grow exponentially in ten years, from 4,930 million in 2017 to over 18 billion in 2027.
Given these
predictions, it should come as no surprise that many organizations are
considering betting on biometric-based solutions for digital identity. In fact,
the National Police recently announced that, in addition to the fingerprint,
when a citizen updates their ID, it will include information based on facial
data. Thus, the system will receive biometric information from the photo of the
document in order to automatically identify the person by facial features.
At the corporate
level, companies such as insurance or finance companies are also starting to
implement such identity solutions. But what trends should be considered when
applying them? Entelgy, BusinessTechConsultancy, a digital transformation
consultancy explains:
The voice will
become more prominent
The increasing use
of face recognition is just one example of the rapid development of this
technology. Its use can already be seen at the government level, for example at
customs at airports or stations, where facial recognition is used to control
passenger boarding or baggage check-in. In addition, it is being tested how
security forces are also considering using this technology to identify people.
Thus, this technology will be used more in crowded places where identification
of people is key.
As for biometrics
using voice, this technology is mainly used in vehicles. The goal is for the
user to be able to fully control the vehicle with their voice, unlocking all
functions, thus eliminating buttons, switches and therefore avoiding possible
distractions while driving. In addition, the presence of our voice instrument is
gradually increasing in other areas such as banking. There are already
organizations that use the user's voice to make transfers, authorize
transactions and access mobile or online banking without passwords.
Rise of the Deepfakes
One of the risks associated with biometrics is the theft of this data, which can later be used for malicious actions through Deepfakes, the recreation of video images of anonymous or known people from these biometric data or multimedia content. ancient. In this way, speeches or statements can be disseminated with a real appearance but with a totally or partially adulterated message, with the risks that this entails. Therefore, it is essential that biometric data are well protected or that they be linked to other authentication systems and thus make it more difficult to theft.
New protection measures / technologies
Security is an essential factor to guarantee a correct use of biometrics and we will see a rise in the barriers of protection of this personal information such as the use of combined authentication systems. One of the trends is to combine biometric information together with a token system present in a device for personal use. The other trend is multimodal biometric authentication, that is, using several biometric technologies at the same time. In addition, there are already solutions on the market that combine Machine Learning with biometrics, allowing not only personal authentication but also documentation, facilitating administrative procedures.
"Biometrics is here to stay and with the emergence of the coronavirus, this expansion has been accelerated by the growing need to carry out procedures remotely, avoiding travel and direct contact with people.", Says Miguel Ángel Barrio, Director of Entelgy Digital . "Companies and administrations have a good opportunity to advance in this area, opting for simple and quickly implemented solutions that facilitate many procedures and represent a great time saving."