Research: Growing Global Acceptance Of Biometrics For Protecting Identities, Personal Information

With concerns growing over the incidence of bank card fraud and identity theft, a majority of people globally would accept biometric authentication to verify their identities, according to recent research from Unisys Corp.

Analyzing recent findings from the nine countries covered in the bi-annual Unisys Security Index, Unisys found that consumers remain most concerned about bank card fraud and identity theft – despite a general decrease in overall concerns about security threats. These two issues have ranked as the top overall consumer concerns globally since Unisys began compiling the Unisys Security Index worldwide in 2007.

These global concerns may have led to an increasing consumer acceptance of biometric technologies, such as fingerprint and eye (retinal) scans, versus more traditional methods of using passwords and PINs. Respondents in every country surveyed in the Unisys Security Index indicated a majority favored the use of advanced biometric methods.

In the UK, for example, 95 percent of those who said they would be willing to provide biometric data said they would be willing to provide fingerprint data; 90 percent said they would provide an eye scan; and 82 percent said they would agree to a facial scan. High acceptance rates for these types of biometrics were also reported in other countries.

“Consumers worldwide seem to be growing more comfortable with the idea of using advanced and sometimes unfamiliar technologies to secure their identities as a way to prevent fraud,” said Mark Cohn, vice president of enterprise security for Unisys. “Given the concern about bank fraud and identity theft, it is not surprising that people would embrace new ways to protect themselves. But we were somewhat surprised by the wide acceptance of biometrics such as iris recognition and facial scans, technologies which consumers were more familiar with than we might have predicted.”

The current global findings of the Unisys Security Index, which complement recently released country-specific results, show an average global score of 119, indicating moderate security fears overall. All four categories of security measured by the survey -- financial, national, Internet and personal safety -- registered the lowest recorded levels so far. The largest decline was in financial concerns, reflecting a general easing of economic concerns from the previous survey, taken at the height of the global credit crisis.

“This drop in concern may indicate a disconnect between consumers’ perceptions of threats and the more dire reality of the threats that exist in business and governments globally today,” Cohn said. “In some regions the general decrease may reflect a less panicked and more rational response to ongoing threats. But global trends indicate that these threats are growing and becoming more sophisticated.”

Bank card fraud and identity theft are growing issues worldwide. The National Identity Fraud Prevention 2008 survey found that ID fraud is one of the fastest growing crimes in Europe. In addition, this year’s British Crime Survey found that credit card fraud cost the UK £610million last year -- up by 43 per cent in just two years. In the U.S., the number of identity fraud victims increased 22 percent in 2008 to 9.9 million adults, according to Javelin Research and Strategy.

In most countries surveyed in the latest Unisys Security Index research, between one quarter and one half of adults around the world are seriously concerned about the ability of financial services providers and national or local governments to keep their personal information secure.

 

Featured

  • Integration Imagination: The Future of Connected Operations

    Security teams that collaborate cross-functionally and apply imagination and creativity to envision and design their ideal integrated ecosystem will have the biggest upside to corporate security and operational benefits. Read Now

  • Smarter Access Starts with Flexibility

    Today’s workplaces are undergoing a rapid evolution, driven by hybrid work models, emerging smart technologies, and flexible work schedules. To keep pace with growing workplace demands, buildings are becoming more dynamic – capable of adapting to how people move, work, and interact in real-time. Read Now

  • Trends Keeping an Eye on Business Decisions

    Today, AI continues to transform the way data is used to make important business decisions. AI and the cloud together are redefining how video surveillance systems are being used to simulate human intelligence by combining data analysis, prediction, and process automation with minimal human intervention. Many organizations are upgrading their surveillance systems to reap the benefits of technologies like AI and cloud applications. Read Now

  • The Future is Happening Outside the Cloud

    For years, the cloud has captivated the physical security industry. And for good reason. Remote access, elastic scalability and simplified maintenance reshaped how we think about deploying and managing systems. But as the number of cameras grows and resolutions push from HD to 4K and beyond, the cloud’s limits are becoming unavoidable. Bandwidth bottlenecks. Latency lags. Rising storage costs. These are not abstract concerns. Read Now

  • Right-Wing Activist Charlie Kirk Dies After Utah Valley University Shooting

    Charlie Kirk, a popular conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA, died Wednesday after being shot during an on-campus event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah Read Now

New Products

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge.