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EDITOR’S QUESTION
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RICHARD PARRIS,
CEO, INTERCEDE
2
017 saw a record amount of large scale cyber attacks make
headlines; Deloitte, Equifax, Uber, even the UK government,
to name but a few. What did these hacks have in common? In
the majority of instances, it was a case of poor authentication, the
old and inherently flawed username and password paradigm coming
back to haunt businesses not taking security seriously enough.
In response to ‘the era of the hack’ and in anticipation of the
looming GDPR deadline, some businesses have looked to alternatives
to address today’s cybersecurity challenges. Cue Samsung, retail
bank TSB and Apple’s iPhone X among many others, deploying
biometric security – fingerprint and iris scans or voice recognition – to
authenticate users to their services quickly, conveniently and in the
most secure way possible.
It’s clear that biometric technology has
gained significant traction in recent times. In
fact, Juniper Research has predicted that 770
million biometric authentication applications
will be downloaded per year by 2019. In
2018, we will definitely see an increasing
number of applications of biometric
security across a wide variety of industries.
However, there won’t necessarily be any
‘new’ forms of the technology or significant
advancements in the field.
Instead, we’ll see more operating system
providers focusing on replacing traditional
user names and passwords with more
robust and secure biometric capabilities.
By embedding this technology into core
authentication systems, organisations will
be able to provide better levels of security
both for the business and the customer, and
at scale. Microsoft is already leading the
charge in this respect, through its launch of
Windows Hello in November 2017.
The solution allows users to gain access to their
business devices, apps, online services and
networks using fingerprint or retinal scans and
www.intelligentcio.com
“
GDPR PROMISES
TO WEED OUT
THE WHEAT FROM
THE CHAFF AND
ENTERPRISES
WILL HAVE NO
CHOICE BUT TO
ENTER THE BRAVE
NEW WORLD
OF STRONGER
AUTHENTICATION,
WITH BIOMETRICS
AT ITS HELM.
facial recognition. The biometric data collected
by the authentication system is stored on
the local device only, reducing the potential
opportunity for attack by hackers. While not
without its limitations, it’s definitely a step in
the right direction for businesses wanting to
avoid falling foul of the severe penalties that
GDPR will dole out to businesses.
Biometric security is no longer the stuff of
sci-fi films. While consumer applications of
the technology have flooded the market,
businesses are likely to follow suit in
2018. There’s never been more attention
on enterprises to address cybersecurity
appropriately. Companies are quick to think
that hacks won’t happen to them but it’s
dangerous to rely on issues surfacing to
highlight and fix underlying problems. GDPR
promises to weed out the wheat from the
chaff and enterprises will have no choice
but to enter the brave new world of stronger
authentication, with biometrics at its helm.
A more proactive and robust approach will
ensure that management teams aren’t
left with some serious explaining to do and
compensation to pay out as a result of
ignoring the clear benefits that biometrics
can provide. n
INTELLIGENTCIO
39