i3 - March/April 2016 - 13

Tech

InvenSense over the next 18 months plan
to shift from fingerprint capacitive sensors to ultrasonic sensors that are more
resistant to user impersonation. Other
developments are underway as innovators
look at behavioral biometrics to thwart
hackers. Behavioral biometrics would
aggregate hundreds of human and interaction signals, creating a unique signature for each authentic user. How do you
use your smartphone to interact with a
website or application? The way you hold
a phone is unique to the individual. How
hard do you press on the screen when you
hit each key?
Another challenge to the biometric
authentication ecosystem is the walled garden approach of say a Samsung or Apple
product, since the biometric feature resides
within their applications and devices.
The FIDO Alliance (Fast ID Online)
is creating an industry-wide method
for standardizing and certifying single
or multi-factor authentication (MFA)
biometric security processes and requirements for hardware and software. So,
applications will be more secure as compared to just logging on to a device. Today
there are more than 100 FIDO-certified
products and companies like Google,
PayPal, Samsung Electronics, Bank of
America, NTT DoCoMo, Dropbox and
GitHub have FIDO-enabled authentication protection.
Also, expect to see various implementations of biometrics technologies in other
smart products used at home or work.
Facial recognition will soon unlock a door
at home or the office. Just imagine a world
where your eyeballs will replace your passwords or keys.
Medical/Health
An interesting startup, CrossChx, is using
patient fingerprints to break down medical
record silos, and is serving more than 250
health systems nationwide with 36 million
patient identities.
Checking-in for a doctor's appointment or hospital is as simple as unlocking your iPhone using your right index
finger. Touch it onto a fingerprint reader
C TA . t e c h / i 3

at the check-in desk, and your identity is
verified. The company's complementary
product, CrossChx is the record-keeping
platform that links the patient's electronic
medical records in the system. For the
moment it's only compatible with the
company's CrossChx fingerprint product.
Eventually, this will add greater efficiencies and eliminate errors resulting from
health care providers' isolated and often
outdated IT systems. Its encryption also
flags errors like typos in a person's name
or social security number without disclosing the real data. CrossChx doesn't store
images of patient fingertips, only cryptographic codes generated from them-and
that makes it nearly impossible to reconstruct a person's unique fingerprint.
Though this type of biometric patient
identity solution is in its early stages-it's

a race among innovative companies to
develop biometric technologies and products that will enable a strong, common
interoperable identity system for health
providers. This could be the crucial glue
needed to make the promise of electronic
health records a reality. Although technological and policy hurdles need to be
overcome-there is an increased urgency
since patient records are now commonly
stolen by hackers.
A More Secure Future
While biometrics holds great promise-we
are living in a sophisticated world where
anything can be eventually hacked. Is biometrics better than passwords and credit
card numbers? It could be-giving us
more control over our personal identities
for our safety and the common good.

Consumers Favor Many Uses of Biometric Technology
By Alex Reynolds

very day, biometric technologies (or "biometrics") become more available
and useable to consumers. They are already an attractive alternative to
everyday passwords, but their uses go beyond security. Facial recognition embedded in glasses may one day help Alzheimer's patients remember loved ones.
Researchers can learn much from large datasets of biometric information. And
commercial services can be personalized to provide only the most relevant
information to consumers, when they need it.
While the technology itself is exciting, it is important to remember that
consumer sentiments impact its adoption. CTA's market research reveals that
consumers are very supportive of certain uses of biometric technologies. Their
comfort levels are highest when biometrics is used altruistically. For example,
70 percent of U.S. consumers are comfortable applying biometrics to help
people who are blind or low vision to identify other people. Sixty-five percent
are comfortable using biometrics to help people with Alzheimer's identify those
around them.
CTA's research also shows that for many use cases, about one-third of consumers are neutral. For companies, this represents a huge opportunity to make a
positive impression on fence-sitters. Companies can do this in two ways. First,
make biometric technologies relevant to individual consumers by educating
them about their use cases and personal benefits. Second, ensure that policies
governing biometric data are transparent and secure. While consumers are open
to biometric technologies, they look for reassurances that it will be used in a way
that they expect. An open dialog will pay dividends!

MARCH/APRIL 2016

https://fidoalliance.org/ https://crosschx.com/ http://www.CTA.tech/i3

i3 - March/April 2016

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