Biometrics as an Important Part of Information Technology - Essay Example

Biometrics as an Important Part of Information Technology Introduction: Biometrics refers to the science and the use of such technology that enables measurement and analysis of biological data. It is an important part of information technology in the present times where it allows measuring and analyzing characteristics of human body, that include DNA, fingerprints, retina and irises of the eyes, patterns of voice, face patterns, and measurements. These are helpful for the purpose of authentication. In the recent times, the use of biometric systems for authentication has become significantly essential as well as popular in different organizations and workplaces intended on protection of organizational information from unwanted or risky individuals (Biometrics, 2012). The present study focuses on an understanding of the use of biometrics and the commercial factors associated with it along with the current trends in its growth and use. The Growing Need and Application of Biometrics: Need for Privacy and Security: In the present times, the use of information technology has increased to a great extent that calls for the need of privacy and security of all data and information that computers and other network systems hold. The use of biometrics has benefitted in the way it is capable of restricting the access of any unauthorized individual such that any kind of frauds may be prevented. The biometric systems are extensively used in military services as well as for governmental purposes. The applications of these systems are made available to the common people and hence can be found in use for prison visitor systems, driver’s licenses, administration of canteen, benefit payment systems, border control measures, voting systems as well as in areas of junior schooling. Future applications of these systems are also being considered to be made available in the use of ATM machines, workstation and network access, travel and tourism, public identity cards, telephone transactions, and internet transactions (Biometrics, n.d.). Strong methods of identity authentication enabled through digital transmission can be understood to be of great need thus raising the use of biometrics. With the world moving towards an era where cashless economy prevails in most cases, with the selling and buying being often taking place electronically, biometrics would prove to be real essential and beneficial in the near future (Willis, 2009, pp.103-129). Biometrics: A Trend in Authentication Technology: Overview: The future trends in the use of biometric technology and process can be clearly understood from the technique being publicized as the universal remedy for theft of identity, frauds in use of credit card, network hacking, terrorism, privacy being attacked, misuse of one’s personal information and all other atrocious things and crimes happening in the 21st-century that can be expected to occur if someone else influences a computer or a network system. The present century has effectively realized that traditional authentication measures like the use of passwords and pins are not enough in the current times to protect and secure important information that are stored in network systems. The need for measurement of physiological features has thus become highly necessary, that is provided by biometrics. Analysis of fingerprints, voices, retinas enable a proper authentication measurement since these features are unique to every individual. Thus once these are recorded in the system, they can be compared in order to determine the access of the correct person. “This type of authentication is considered to have more integrity than photo ID and username/password systems because even sophisticated fake IDs, clever social engineering and lazy security habits can't compromise it” (Haas, 2004). The overall benefits of biometrics technology have been obtained in authentication, control in access and attendance, control in travelling, in financial and other transactions, remote voting, is use of automatic working devices, and action control. Methods that have been developed and found to be beneficial for the use in biometrics include optical technologies, acoustical technologies, microwaves, capacitive sensors, pressure sensors, particle rays technologies, magnetic fields, electric fields and chemical emissions. With the development in further process, biometrics is expected, by different users and researchers as well, to change the world in the near future (Bicz, 2006). Biometrics in Banking: Considering the banking sector, concerns are increasingly rising in regard to the frauds occurring as a result of the internal employees performing illegally and misusing data. Moreover cases of external frauds are also obtained that leads to loss of an organization affecting both privacy and cost. Thefts of huge amounts are often received as complaints from small business owners or clients of banks. With the help of biometrics these problems have been provided with significant attention for solution. For instance transaction security secures the transactions of the clients and thus their privacy gets protected distantly or on the site. The security of the infrastructure of the bank can be controlled by the network security. The access controls allow protection of the physical security of different facilities within the banking organizations. Moreover there are background checks that are capable of protecting the organization from internal frauds and transactions that are illegal. In order to achieve these, the biometric systems making use of the face, finger, hand, signature, and voice are being used in the banking sector for the purpose of protection of information and money. Biometrics has already been in use in banks in several countries across the world that includes North and South America, Europe and Asia. The systems used in biometric technology can be used in all the aspects related to banking and hence proves to be highly beneficial (Krawczyk, 2005). Biometrics: Current Growth and Future Trends: Recent studies have revealed that the market of biometrics have reflected strong growth since the early years of the 21st century. This growth has been predicted to remain at a sustained level at least till 2020. This increase or growth in the market has been owing to the increasing interest of the government and the eagerness of the market to achieve secure identification systems. Thus the investments in this technology have been rising over the years. The communities of business and administration are the most influential ones in regard to the rising use of biometric systems in their organizations. These systems have proved to be more trustworthy than the traditional systems of authentication. Moreover, biometrics have also proved beneficial in providing physical security for consumer items that are highly valuable like laptops, cars and mobile phones (Siebold, 2011, pp.433-436). Government services have a significant need for such security systems that has added immensely to the rising growth of biometrics market. Theft of identity is a matter of serious concern for the government organizations that has made a large number of government departments to enroll for the biometric security systems. Also, the systems have proved to assist in cases where identification and authentication of anonymous individuals is necessary like in a crowd in the government and law enforcements. Police departments are also significantly making use of biometrics, involving the use of iris and other scanners. Considering such a stage of growth, the rise in the use of biometrics systems can be expected to continue with greater number of identification systems being available for daily purposes (Siebold, 2011, pp.433-436). Biometric systems are mostly applied for physical access controls (Clarke, 2011, p.31). However, while introducing the systems in one’s use, the technology should be properly understood and the decisions rightly taken such that the benefits of the system can be suitably achieved (Vacca, 2007, p.22). Certain biometric systems like the Automated Fingerprint Identification System are also quite cheap to be affordable by common people, although they may be less reliable. More and more identification systems are being tried like the vein pattern identification to encourage the greater use of the systems in the coming years. Sometimes, the requirement of the person to be in direct test with the scanner might prove to be unhygienic or affecting the privacy of individuals, hence systems are being developed where the direct contact of the person would not be required. One thing that can be clearly reflected is that biometrics has already proven its use and over the years, its growth can only be expected to increase further (Siebold, 2011, pp.433-436). Conclusion: From the study it can be concluded that the system of biometric have not only proved to be effective and beneficial in providing security at workplace, banking, government departments, as well as for the common people’s use, but over the years, the demand for the systems has reflected significant rises that can be expected to increase in the coming years with the further development and improvement of the technological advancements. References 1) Biometrics (2012), techtarget, available at: http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/biometrics (accessed on July 15, 2012) 2) Biometrics (n.d.), EWH, available at: http://ewh.ieee.org/r10/bombay/news5/Biometrics.htm (accessed on July 15, 2012) 3) Clarke, N. (2011), Transparent User Authentication: Biometrics, Rfid, and Behavioural Profiling, New York: Springer 4) Haas, J. (2004), Biometrics: A Trend in Authentication Technology, haas, available at: http://www.haas.ca/articles/20040923-biometrics.cfm (accessed on July 17, 2012) 5) Krawczyk, S. (2005), Biometrics in the Banking Industry, CSE, available at: http://www.cse.msu.edu/~cse891/Sect601/CaseStudy/BiometricsBankingIndustry.pdf (accessed on August 2, 2012) 6) Siebold, P. (2011), Biometrics: Current Growth and Future Trends, Surveillance Technology Quarterly, Vol.2, No.3, pp.433-436 7) Vacca, J.R. (2007), Biometric Technologies and Verification Systems, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann 8) Wicz, W. (2006), Future of biometrics, Optel, available at: http://www.optel.pl/article/future%20of%20biometrics.pdf (accessed on July 17, 2012) 9) Willis, A. (2009), Commercial Factors in the Growth of Biometrics, Security Systems, Vol.31, No.3, pp.103-129 Read More