Biometrics research brief: biometric sensors, consumer receptiveness, secure authentication

Biometric Sensors

The global biometric sensors market was valued at US$969.4 million in 2017 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 8.3% by 2025, according to Coherent Market Insights.

A biometric sensor is a transducer that converts a biometric trait, including an individual’s voice, fingerprint, facial or iris scan into an electrical signal. Escalating application of wearable and portable biometric devices is likely to drive the growth of biometric sensors market. The firm notes that growing implementation of fingerprint sensors in smartphones is also driving market growth. Increased application of biometric sensors in cars for better driving experiences is another driver for biometric sensors globally. Biometric identity features in luxury cars comprises fingerprint, voice, gesture, and iris recognition, which are some the major attributes fuelling the demand for biometric sensors.

The firm also notes that the application of fingerprint readers along with biometric lock systems in luxury hotels is one of the driving factors for the market. Governments are also opting for biometric systems for better management of employee attendance, which is another prime reason for market growth. North America is expected to gain major traction by 2025, due to increasing application of biometric sensors in different industries for security in the U.S. and Canada. However, the high cost of installation and maintenance will be restraining factors for the market.

Consumer Receptiveness

The Center for Identity at The University of Texas at Austin recently conducted a comprehensive survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers focused on their receptiveness to biometric technologies.

The Center noted that a solid majority of U.S. consumers are very comfortable with fingerprint biometrics, but that only 43 percent of consumers are more comfortable using biometrics than two years ago, and 49 percent have the same comfort level.

Facial recognition is the least trusted modality, with 10 percent saying they are “not at all comfortable” with the technology, though roughly 69 percent reported they are very or somewhat comfortable with its use. In addition to the 58 percent who said they are very comfortable with fingerprinting, 28 percent reported they are somewhat comfortable with it. Fingerprints are also the most common biometric, by proportion of applications, at 40 percent. Face recognition and multimodal applications make up 15 percent each, followed by iris recognition (13 percent), palm and vein recognition (nine percent), and voice recognition and heartbeat reading, at four percent each. More details about this survey was published by Biometric Update.

Secure Authentication

New market research from authentication solutions provider Veridium, based on survey results from 200 U.S. senior IT decision makers, outlines how there is a lack of confidence of passwords alone to secure data sufficiently while highlighting how organizations are moving towards biometrics to better safeguard their most critical assets. Per the research, 81 percent of IT decision makers reported that they think biometric authentication secures their organizations’ data better than passwords alone. By examining the challenges and trends of authentication methods across industries, the research uncovers adjustments that IT leaders need to make to better protect their data.

Key findings from the survey include:

The Prevalence of Data Breaches: Insights from the survey reinforce that organizations continue to be a target for threat vectors, with more than half (53%) of senior IT decision makers report that their organizations have experienced a data breach within the last five years.

GDPR’s Impact on Security Strategy: Upcoming regulations are cited to be a top consideration for U.S. IT decision makers as it relates to their security strategy, as 89 percent of respondents reported that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) deadline is impacting their organizations’ approach to managing and securing EU citizens’ data.

Lack of Confidence in Passwords: While 99 percent of IT decision makers reported that they are currently using passwords in their organizations, only 34 percent of respondents are very confident that passwords alone can protect data sufficiently.

Employee Habits Pose Risk: Additionally, 83 percent of respondents reported that their employees use techniques to “bypass” password policy, the top ways include: storing passwords within a web browser or password manager (53%), reusing same characters, but add, change or adjust a number (50%) and writing down passwords (41%).

Harnessing the Power of Biometrics: The overwhelming majority of respondents agree that biometrics is the most secure authentication method for both organizations (86%) and consumers (86%) to use. Respondents believe the main reasons for using biometric authentication include overall better security (63%), increased workforce productivity (54%) and better accessibility (50%).

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometric sensors  |  biometrics  |  Center for Identity  |  market research  |  Veridium