Practical issues in using Biometrics for common security access

Though using biometrics for security is a big breakthrough in technology, there are many problems and security issues in using biometrics such as fingerprint scanning, iris scanning, face recognition, etc. There is no doubt that it is a great break through and it is a technology that should be welcomed. It is hard to tamper with his data and breach inside the system. Either one of the biometrics or more than one can be excellent to provide access to someone inside a system. This is one of the primary reasons why our Indian government also uses it in our Aadhar cards.

Biometric data cannot be changed if compromised

This is one of the biggest problems. If we have a password or other authentication mechanisms, we can easily replace a new password if the old password is compromised. But in the case of biometrics, the data is permanent and if it is tampered with or compromised, there is no way it can be replaced. This is one of the most risky situations where we don't want our biometrics to be known to anyone and they can impersonate us.

Source

I understand that the solution to this problem can be having a strong security system where our biometric data will not leak or it will be secure but we cannot be so sure about it. No system is fully secure in this world. Encryption can help to some extent but the hackers are all experts and they can get the data from the system easily if they get the encryption details.

Scanners won't work all the time

We have a scanner available in our office for our parking. People use their hands and faces as the data for entering the gate to the parking. This system often has issues in recognizing the face and also scanning the prints in the hand. One thing that has worked so far is the fingerprint scanner. I have seen it being down for maintenance on several instances. Most of the time it will always be offline and people don't have to use their biometrics to enter the parking lot. This increases the number of vehicles in the parking lot.

Not all the users agree

In a gated community near my house, some of the flat owners wanted to have a biometric security system implemented for the gated community so that only authorized people could enter the building. This was a good idea but the problem is people had concerns in providing their biometric information. Not all the users were comfortable sharing their biometric information and the plan finally was dropped and an access card-based security system was implemented. This is understandable that everywhere getting 100 percent participation from the users can be challenging.

Cost and maintenance

This is the most important thing. Compared to other security systems, biometric systems are not very common and that is one of the biggest reasons why the cost is also slightly elevated. It is also hard to maintain the cost and take care of the repairs and stuff. This technology is good but it is also the technology that keeps changing a lot and we have to stay up to date to keep the security levels high.

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