“Apple wasn’t the first hardware manufacturer to roll this type of technology out. But it is the biggest. There have been several android phones with fingerprint scanners and we’ve had fingerprint sensors on laptops for five or six years at this stage but there’re very few companies that have worked with the technology,” said Conaty of CWSI.
“There are various reasons like lack of accuracy or hassle training staff or just not trusting the technology. There was no real enterprise integration and it became seen more as a gimmick. It’s really only since Apple started doing it and because Apple has such a high penetration in the enterprise that we’re starting to see it becoming more of a mainstream idea, and in fairness to Apple Touch ID is a very simple solution that works well.”
Marshmallow
Interestingly the Android version dubbed Marshmallow, or Android M, has biometric functionality built into the operating system so all future Android devices will support biometric identification. Whereas previously it was up to the manufacturers to add that in, now it will be a standard feature and a core part of the Android OS. The result will undoubtedly be a lot more Android devices with fingerprint identification built in.
Biometrics are not 100% accurate and can fail to properly recognise an authorised user and prevent them accessing a resource or system. But the bigger issue is if they incorrectly recognise someone as an authorised user and allow them access, or alternatively the biometric system may be fooled to allow an unauthorised user to access the systems, Brian Honan, BH Consulting
“We also will see it built into the Windows 10 mobile solution core as well, and I believe that Lenovo are talking about all their future handsets coming with fingerprint sensors built in, even the lower range handsets. So I’d say it’ll definitely take off in the next six to 18 months,” said Conaty.
However not everyone is as confident of a fast take off. In particular Brian Honan of BH Consulting said that there are a number of issues with biometric security measures.
Issues with biometrics
“They are not 100% accurate and can fail to properly recognise an authorised user and prevent them accessing a resource or system. But the bigger issue is if they incorrectly recognise someone as an authorised user and allow them access, or alternatively the biometric system may be fooled to allow an unauthorised user to access the systems,” he said.
For this reason, Honan advocates the use of extra layers of security, starting with two factor identification.
“It’s good practise to add an additional layer of security such as passwords or PIN numbers. In the past few years some of the biggest innovations in enterprise IT have come from the consumer market. Smart phones and tablets became enterprise tools as a result of their success in the consumer market first and demand for these devices to be used in the enterprise came from the users and not the IT departments.”
“We have seen the same with many cloud services. The focus on the consumer from many major IT vendors is resulting in better development and research into better user experiences in using technology and applications. This includes the development of more user friendly and reliable tools in the area of identification and authentication, which in turn should make biometrics the more preferred solution.”
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