Biometrics: what it is and how it is changing the world of finance

[Carding]

What Is Biometrics?
Biometrics are a group of digital security methods that rely on biological or physiological attributes, used to prevent data breaches such as credit card hacks or unauthorized log-ins. Biometrics uses criteria that is physically unique to an individual that can prove their identity, such as a fingerprint or voice pattern, rather than relying on passwords or PIN codes that can be more easily hacked or stolen.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Biometrics refers to digitally encoding physical attributes of a user in order to gain access to data or computer system.
• Fingerprints, facial recognition, and voice patterns are among some of the most widespread uses of biometrics today in both consumer and commercial use.
• By using physical identifiers that are unique to individuals, biometrics seeks to make hacking or gaining unauthorized access to computer systems much more difficult.

Understanding Biometrics
One common method of employing biometrics is the use of fingerprints as identification. This system can be used in more high-tech or high-security situations, but it has more recently been adapted on the individual consumer level. For example, Apple was the first major phone manufacturer to implement a fingerprint login system, starting with its iPhone 5s, and other companies followed soon after. Other systems of biometrics include iris or retina scans and voice recognition software.

As the world starts relying more heavily on technology and sharing information electronically, data breaches are increasingly common. Well-known examples of corporations that have been targeted by hackers over the past few years include Target and Home Depot. Biometrics is one method of counteracting these breaches.

Biometrics and Protecting Financial Data
Since so many people rely on credit cards, online banking and apps to transfer payments, it's essential to employ the use of techniques such as biometrics to prevent hacks, breaches and fraud. Many banks and financial institutions use the technology inherent in newer phones by creating apps that require fingerprints to access data, and their individual biometrics systems advance as the mobile technology advances. Customers can access secure banking information at the press of a finger.

More recently, companies have begun to invest in more varied forms of biometric technology for the mass market. EyeVerify is in the process of developing systems that will allow participating companies, which currently include Wells Fargo and Sprint, to use retina scan technology to secure customers' account information. Another company, Nymi, developed ECG-reading bracelets that detect a person's heartbeat, synchronize it with a digital device, and use that data to log in to a secure network through Bluetooth. Companies involved in funding this development include MasterCard and Relay Ventures.

Special Considerations
The promise of using data unique to each person in order to keep information safe is an attractive idea to financial investors, since biometrics is synonymous with enhanced security. Biometrics is an evolving technology, and it holds promise for the future. However, if you're considering investing in a company and are taking into account its use of biometrics, be sure to research the exact technology in use.

Some forms of biometrics are more secure than others; some companies have more intelligent systems than others. It is worth looking into the company's history to see if the technology has ever been subject to controversy or even has been breached in the past. You should also take into account how well the particular biometric technology functions in the context of the company's operation.

(c) https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/biometrics.asp

 

[Father]

“Whiskers, paws and tail - these are my documents,” said the Cat Matroskin to the postman Pechkin and was ahead of his time. Paper IDs are fading into the background - they are being replaced by biometric identification. Unlocking a smartphone with a fingerprint, paying for a purchase using a selfie, transferring money by voice is no longer a fantasy. And then there will still be. We understand what biometrics is and how it simplifies our life.

What is biometric data?
Each person has unique physical characteristics. Some of them are obtained from birth - DNA, fingerprints, hand geometry, vein patterns, iris. Others are acquired over time and can change throughout life - gait, voice intonation, signature. All these characteristics are not repeated in any of the inhabitants of our planet, which means that a person can be identified by them.
This is what biometric technologies are built on, which help to recognize people by one or more physical and behavioral characteristics.
At first, the police of different countries began to use biometrics. At the beginning of the 20th century, criminals began to be identified by fingerprints in Great Britain. Since 1998, Russia has introduced compulsory fingerprinting registration for the military, police, customs and tax officials. In the 2000s, the United States began photographing and fingerprinting all visiting foreigners. Today, many countries, including ours, issue biometric documents - foreign and domestic passports, visas, driver's licenses. And at the airports of 12 European countries they plan to install "smart gates" for biometric identification in passport control zones.

How it works?
With the help of special modern devices - scanners, sensors and other readers - a person's biometric data are recorded in a special database. The system remembers this information (for example, your fingerprint) and converts it into a digital code. Then, when you put your finger on the scanner again, the system compares the new code with the one recorded earlier. If the codes match, then she will give an answer that it is really you.

What types of biometrics are there?
Face image. Modern photo and video cameras of smartphones easily “recognize” faces using the built-in neural network scanner. The image becomes the identifier of the person. The technology can be used both simply to unlock the phone, and for more complex tasks - to make purchases, receive financial services.
Vote. Human voices have different intonation, pitch, and modulation. The biometric system recognizes people by their speech characteristics. To prevent fraudsters from using ready-made recordings of someone else's voice, to identify a user, they are most often asked to pronounce a random set of words or phrases. By analogy with a photo or video, the system compares this record with the one stored in the database.
Fingerprints. Today, fingerprinting is used very widely: fingerprints are needed to obtain a passport and a foreign visa, to access mobile applications of banks, in order to unlock a smartphone (now gadgets know you like your five fingers). And in Saudi Arabia, since 2016, you need to be fingerprinted to buy a SIM card. Innovative companies are already developing a way to recognize fingerprints contactlessly.
Iris of the eye. The color of the eye has a more complex pattern than fingers, so this method of biometric identification is even more reliable. Millions of smartphones in the world are equipped with scanners, which, as they say, "by eye" determine the owner.
The world's largest biometric identification system - Aadhaar. It was created in India, and at the beginning of 2018, more than 1.19 billion people were registered in it - over 99% of the country's adult citizens. Fingerprints, irises of eyes, photographs of all residents, as well as their personal data: date of birth, full name, gender, address, phone number and e-mail were entered into the unified system of the country. Each citizen in this system was assigned a 12-digit unique identification number and issued an ID-card with this number. It is this card that is considered an identity card. Indians must present or enter an ID card number and undergo biometric verification in order to receive any government, financial and other services that require proof of identity. For example, go through passport control at the airport,

How is biometrics used in finance?
Banks, payment systems, retail chains, cafes and other services are actively introducing biometric technologies. On the one hand, it helps protect customers from fraudsters - overcoming double or triple biometric identification ciphers is much more difficult than picking up a PIN. On the other hand, it simplifies financial transactions: purchases, money transfers and payment for services become easy and fast.
In addition, biometrics provide protection in case of emergencies. In Japan, after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, many people lost not only their bank cards, but also their documents. They had to go through long and tedious identification procedures in order to withdraw money from their accounts. After that, a single biometric system was created in the country, which excludes such a problem in the future.

Biometric payments
The breakthrough was the launch of Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android Rau payment services, which identify users by fingerprints using smartphones. In 2016, a facial identification function was launched in the mobile application of the Chinese payment system Alipay.
In Japan, on the eve of the 2020 Olympic Games, they have already begun testing a new system of payment for goods and services for foreigners. It will allow them to pay in hotels, shops and restaurants by simply placing their finger on the reader. Guests will be able to take fingerprints and link them to a bank card account immediately upon arrival - at ports and airports.
Financiers, together with technology companies, are developing the most unusual biometric solutions. For example, one of the foreign banks presented a prototype of a contactless payment bracelet that identifies the user by heart rate.
Biometrics is also used in some countrys. In some cafes, you can already pay by simply looking at the camera at the checkout. In order for the system to recognize a person, you need to download a special application in advance, link a bank card to it and upload your portrait. Special software installed on cameras near cash registers recognizes a person and automatically debits money from his account.

Money transfers
Some foreign and banks use face recognition technology for money transfers. You download a special application to your smartphone and choose "translation by photo". Then find the recipient's photo in the gallery. The image is sent to the bank's face recognition system. The masked number of the recipient's card is displayed on the screen. You just have to confirm the sending of money.

Loans and deposits online
Biometric identification in banks is already widely used. Large banks use voice technologies in call centers, face recognition technologies when a client re-contacts a bank branch to obtain a loan, fingerprint scanning to enter a mobile application and to access safe deposit boxes.
The remote identification mechanism allows you to open deposits, accounts and receive many other services online. To do this, the client only needs to come to the bank with the documents once and go through the initial identification - to record a voice and video. The bank sends this data to the Unified Biometric System. Then a person can remotely receive the services of any bank by going through a double confirmation of identity: through the Unified State System of Identification and Authentication (Portal of Public Services) and through the Unified Biometric System. The whole procedure will take a few minutes.

Is it safe to use biometric data? How are they protected from scammers?
Biometrics is a much more advanced financial protection system than PIN codes and SMS from a bank. Scammers cannot steal your face, voice and fingerprints. The biometric systems themselves are also always seriously protected from hacking, theft and data forgery.

• Information is stored in closed systems, access to which is limited. For example, biometric data for remote identification is encrypted and stored impersonally.
• The collection of biometric data is allowed only with the consent of the person. For example, at the visa center you will be asked to sign the corresponding application. The same goes for banking services.
• In the financial sector, for reliability, multifactor authentication is most often used - that is, according to several criteria. For example, a PIN or one-time password plus biometrics. Attackers will not be able to fake the client's video because the user is asked to pronounce a unique combination of numbers. To use the system, the client first needs to leave a reference voice recording in the bank.

Shopping in a cafe at a glance, transfers literally with one finger, loans and deposits without leaving the couch have already become available, but not everywhere. It will certainly take some time before biometric technologies are used even in the smallest stores in all regions. At the very least, for this you need to have the Internet throughout the country.