Why Biometric Technology Is Still Not the Absolute Replacement for Passwords

A good security token is the one that distinctively corresponds to you and which nobody could know, guess or copy. This is the reason why security experts suggest us to use long and random passwords for our safety. However, it is not as easy as it sounds because it gets hard to memorize strong and unique passwords.

Biometric technology as we know right now is the hot favorite technique of securing any place. It had to happen counting it is such a trouble free way of security than that of passwords we have to remember. In biometrics, our finger or thumb impressions not only make our job easier but also are unique by nature.

Also, biometric technology removed the trouble of hacking considering it is not a cakewalk for someone to hack your fingerprints than cracking the pass code. Following the best security practices, setting strong passwords for separate devices and then memorizing the same every time is not an easy thing as compared to biometrics.

So, if a biometric system seems so better in every department, why is there a need for amelioration? Why still the technology is not the astute replacement for the pesky passwords?

First and foremost, it is a certain fact that biometrics will play an important part in future validation. But we need to understand that the system is not a cure for everything at the present moment. There are still many issues that prevail which need to be taken care of in order to make the technology thoroughly invulnerable.

A lot of researchers in the world have stated that it is not exactly true that biometrics cannot be rehashed as they tried on fooling fingerprint readers and successfully got past the digital scanners via some special pair of glasses. More to it, the biometrics that were instigated initially keep all the data stored on server rather than restricting it to the client so breaching the security system isn’t impossible in this case scenario.

Last year it was reported that in a United States Office of Human Resource Management, touch ID’s of millions of government employees were stolen which first raised the suspicion on the tech. Immediately ascertaining the threat, the mobile companies quickly altered the fingerprint system in the devices by adding a password security succeeding the touch ID.

This data breach made it clear that biometrics is not impeccable. In fact they have simply shunned the passwords. Counting it can get very problematic if someone cannot log in with his or her touch ID, all the software companies ranging from Microsoft’s Windows 10 and Google’s Android have provided password tool as well to ensure this does not happen.

So, relying on biometric authentication is not recommended at the current time as having a backup in the form of passwords is very important. This process is called multi factor authentication (MFA) where we can put biometric as one of the two-way security procedure, while passwords the other.

Biometrics are indeed a fantastic method of verification but the tech is not yet a completely error proof. So, it should not be taken as an outright replacement for passwords but instead must be implemented along with it for enhanced protection.