With the evolution of technology, especially over the last decade, it has become even easier for sensitive information to be leaked or hacked by dedicated hackers. All our account information, logins, passwords, banking details and so on are on the Internet, and so they need to protected by strong safety measures in order to be able to resist hacking and spyware attacks, which keep on becoming more and more sophisticated. Thus, biometric identification has become one of the most rapidly growing systems of verification across the globe, whether it be for government services, banking, shopping or any other service.
Biometric identification requires a person’s physical or biometric information to be provided before access can be granted to the respective service. Thus, a fingerprint or retina scan is the most common way to implement this. Biometric systems are thus extremely difficult to hack into, as they require the would-be hacker to have this biometric information of the person they are trying to impersonate. It is not impossible for these systems to be hacked, but it is a lot more difficult to do than a standard username and password requirement that we see on websites usually.
Many companies are also now implementing biometric identification systems in order to grant access to their services and websites, or to restrict access to those above a certain age, and so on. For example, visitors to eBay will soon be subjected to a biometric system in order to confirm their age. VerifyMyAge, which is a UK-based age verification platform, will be using biometric data, along with documents such as a passport, driving license or other ID cards, in order to verify the age of people visiting the site. This is necessary since the law in many countries requires age verification for websites selling restricted products such as alcohol, tobacco, online games and adult materials. This service will be initially rolled out in the UK, Canada, USA, Sweden, South Africa and Germany.
These age verification systems are also getting automated, to improve the experience for users as well as customers, and this is even more important as more and more companies and governments look to implement biometric solutions for their identification needs. Another business sector that is looking towards biometrics is the casino business. One of the biggest issues for casinos, and the gambling industry in general, is the prevalence of underage gambling. While this can be somewhat mitigated at physical locations, it is almost impossible to be able to verify someone’s age when they are looking to play casino online games. Thus, biometric age verification systems are even more important in this context, where casino website operators need to be able to ensure that no underage people are playing their games online. Biometric systems are extremely accurate, and therefore are the best way to ensure compliance, especially online. They also work well at physical locations, to make sure that impersonation is not being carried out. Thus, two of the gambling industries biggest issues with regard to security – impersonation and underage gambling, can be tackled comprehensively by using biometric systems for identification and granting access to physical venues as well as websites online.
