Biometric Identification

Online users prefer convenience and security when it comes to the digital space. Traditional methods are unable to meet customer expectations, which makes biometrics a practical contender. With biometric technology, online businesses can onboard legitimate customers in real-time regardless of where they are present.

What is Biometric identification?

Biometric identification uses unique biological features to identify and verify an individual. These attributes include fingerprints patterns, facial features, eye structures, DNA, speech, and even handwriting. Once this identity information is recorded, a biometric profile is created against the person’s name which represents their digital identity. This not only provides a better sense of security to the end-users but also makes the customer identification process easy for online businesses.

Why is Biometric Identification Important?

Providing customer-centric solutions is a good means of acquiring the all-important trust needed to elevate a brand’s reputation. Biometric technology could prove beneficial not only for the customer but for businesses as well.

Quick Onboarding: Biometric identification can be used to onboard legitimate customers in a matter of minutes. Users can enrol themselves in real-time through an easy-to-understand and intuitive process.

Secure Channel: Online users can use their biometric profiles to verify themselves, and safely engage with businesses to perform online activities like account opening, and digital transactions with confidence.

Identity Theft Protection: Biometric authentication protects a business’ customers from possible instances of identity theft. It helps global companies prevent online fraud by keeping identity thieves at bay which are in pursuit of stealing sensitive user credentials for their benefit. This way, biometrics can better help in identity verification of end-users.

Mitigating Cybercrime: Fraudsters get their hands on a user’s identity to conduct a series of cybercrime including money laundering, fake account openings, terror financing and creating synthetic identities to issue false credit cards. Since biometric identification uses a user profile created against a set of characteristics unique to an individual, it reduces the risk of possible cybercrime.

Ensuring KYC: An essential part of business operations is the Know Your Customer (KYC) process that verifies a user’s identity through a set of rules and regulations. Biometric verification offers businesses to perform KYC screening of their customers remotely and through a secure channel.

Types of Biometric Verification

Fingerprint Scanning

The most common method for biometric verification is through fingerprint recognition systems. Mobile devices now come with a built-in fingerprint sensor which provides a good means of performing biometric verification. Online businesses can allow users to enrol themselves by submitting fingerprint patterns via. smartphones regardless of their location, and open accounts with any business platform.

Facial Identification
The live presence of an individual is the key factor in validating user identity when it comes to facial biometric identification. The user scans their face through the webcam or smartphone camera, upon which a set of tests are performed including liveness detection, microexpression assessment and skin tone analysis. Even though facial recognition systems can be tricked through some techniques including deep fakes, 3D masks, and replay attacks, modern solutions powered by artificial intelligence significantly take down facial spoof attacks.

Voice Recognition
This type of biometric identification is popular because of the level of convenience it provides. Speaker identification is now possible with speech recognition systems which are helpful to authenticate user identity. It considers a user’s vocal traits like pitch, pronunciation, fluency and volume, etc., to better assess their identity and create a speaker profile for future authentication.

Iris and Retina Recognition
Another type of biometric technology is iris recognition which detects patterns and complex structures in the eye to create a unique identity against a particular individual. The retina – blood vessels at the back of the eye – form a unique pattern which is stored in digital form, and used for biometric verification.

DNA
A type of biometric verification uses DNA matching to identify unique individuals. This type of identification is mostly used by law enforcement departments to track suspects and potential criminals.

Handwriting Pattern
Verifying a person based on their signature and handwriting is another type of biometric identification. Signature recognition could be either static or dynamic based on the verification requirements, and is most used by banking institutions and financial businesses.