Identity theft is on the rise. Last year
the US Federal Trade
Commission claimed that identity-related offences cost US consumers and
businesses around $53 billion per year. In an effort to thwart the rise in
ID theft,
the biometrics’ market is set to expand
and is expected to reach
$3.4 billion as near as 2007. As biometric applications become more common
to our daily lives so does the need to make all biometric devices safer,
stronger and trusted not only for the consumer public, but also for
financial and governing validation authorities.
Problem:
Theft of a user’s biometric is irreplaceable –
If a biometric such as a user’s eye or fingerprint is ever
stolen;
how can you get that back?
If it is
biometric input devices such as cameras and scanners that substantiate
identity;
then it is only a camera or a scanner that is needed to steal an identity…
As
previously indicated, ID theft is big business. Its growth will
exponentially increase with the rise of the biometrics market making
biometric data a new target. The current costs equate to $53 billion per
year in loss, with stolen credit cards. The cost factor will be much more
significant trying to recapture lost biometric identifiers…
Solution:
The
need to install
mechanisms of recoverability to biometrics is at all levels.
This need for recoverability should be a native feature within biometric
input devices and should span databases, legacy systems and solutions, which
should include
all standard natural identifiers.
Eliminating the market value of
the biometric identifiers in order to protect them from theft is better than
firewalls, algorithms, security codes and encryption. If a biometric has
value - that value becomes a target for theft. PISI's
technology solutions
makes natural biometric identifiers - moving targets.
