Personal Use Biometrics

I don’t store sensitive personal information on my phone.  If my phone were to be compromised my loss would be the cost of the device plus the time it took to change a few passwords…fairly minimal.  In an increasingly connected world, new technologies are becoming available that change the impact of losing devices such as a smartphone.  The new Apple iPhone leverages Apple Pay, an app that can scan your credit or debit cards and store the information on the phone allowing you to pay using near field communications and a finger print scanner, more can be read here.  This is a neat feature that will almost undoubtedly be used by millions in the coming years, but I suspect the security behind using this feature may not be where it needs to be, and I am not alone.  Frost & Sullivan ICT global program director Jean-Noël Georges issued a statement saying:“

“Due to existing hardware capabilities across devices, most of the growth is expected from facial and voice authentication technologies. While the uptake of biometric technologies will get a boost from the proliferation of new devices with fingerprint authentication capability, their acceptance will be tepid until the market develops more sophisticated and accurate authentication software.”

Mass implementation of biometrics in this fashion is something I am not ready to place my trust in just yet.  I don’t know the false rejection rate, and more importantly, the false acceptance rates of the technology, nor could I find it.  How easily could my fingerprint be spoofed on this device?  Is there a chance I could be locked out of my device due to software problems?  Don’t know the answer to these questions.  There is no way I will be placing my financial information on my phone with the current maturity of personal biometrics.

With all this said, I believe this type of technology is the way of the future for simple transactions and other day to day activities.  The tech will eventually catch up, but I feel becoming an early adopter right now is not worth the risk.