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The use of biometric systems has accelerated, and it will continue to do so as hardware costs continue to decline and simple integration solutions become available.
Melissa Douglas, Director / IT Infrastructure Architecture & Operations, Biogen
Biometric authentication is the process of automatically identifying or verifying persons based on their unique physiological or behavioral traits such as fingerprints, gait, or iris. For thousands of years, the concept of fingerprint biometrics has existed. East Asian potters used to imprint their fingerprints on the curing clay. In the nineteenth century, criminologists employed fingerprints to identify habitual criminals. However, biometrics emerged as an automated technology in the 1970s.
Due to the growing requirement to combat fraud and enable safe access to physical and logical assets. Commercial applications began utilizing biometrics for physical access control to buildings. This trend is expected to continue to grow as technology advances.
Biometrics is an extremely secure authentication approach since it is based on individuals rather than what they know or have. Passwords and tokens are extremely susceptible to lose or theft. The primary cause of the increasing number of security and data breaches is a weak or compromised password. Passwords are the weakest link in an organization's security system, and even the most advanced hacking attacks cannot withstand strong passwords. Additionally, the costs of maintaining password and token-based systems are too expensive and inefficient. Password resets consume valuable IT support time and limit employee productivity.
Fingerprint identification checks for the individual's fingerprint's distinctive pattern of ridges and valleys. These patterns are unique and aid in the differentiation of people within a community. Because fingerprints are unique to each individual and cannot be lost or stolen, they are extremely accurate and dependable. Additionally, the availability of low-cost fingerprint readers combined with their ease of integration has resulted in the widespread implementation of fingerprint biometrics in a range of companies.
Verification and identification are two methods for determining an individual's identity using biometric technologies. Verification establishes that an individual is who they claim to be by making a one-to-one comparison of the individual's fingerprint sample to a stored reference template. By contrast, identification uses a one-to-many comparison to verify an individual's identity. The identification procedure matches the individual's fingerprint sample to all previously stored reference templates. Identification occurs when an individual's fingerprint image matches one of the stored templates. By implementing biometric technology correctly, a corporation can reap an infinite number of benefits. Today's economy is dynamic, and technological improvements have altered how firms operate and conduct business. Modern firms must be adaptive, flexible, and agile to thrive in today's competitive business world. Fingerprint technology can assist businesses in many industries, including health care, government, retail, technology, manufacturing, libraries, and universities.
Fingerprint technology makes employee identification and workforce management faster, more accurate, and more efficient. Unlike magnetic strip cards or passwords, individuals' fingerprints are constantly with them and cannot be lost or forgotten. Employee attendance tracking helps avoid employee time theft and fraudulent activity in manufacturing businesses. A biometric system automates the calculation of employee hours, thereby minimizing paper waste and time spent reconciling attendance data manually. Biometric fingerprints can be used to grant physical access to company facilities and logical access to internal resources such as enterprise computers and systems.
Governments and corporations worldwide embrace biometric technology to prevent identity fraud and security breaches, protect confidential data, cut expenses, and enhance the overall user experience. Biometrics is one of the fastest expanding segments of the information technology sector, with fingerprint recognition projected to be the most widely used biometric technology.
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