Data security

Face Verification – Is it the end of Password Security?

The world is rapidly moving towards digitisation. Every industry, whether the banks or retail stores are shifting their business operations online. This has lead to the explosion of the internet. People are actively adopting digital businesses and in fact, they are getting more comfortable and convenient in utilising online services. This is the point of concern for businesses in terms of online security.

If on the one hand, people are satisfied with the idea of online businesses then on the very other hand, cybercriminals are finding it another way to make extra cash. The advantages associated with the digital transformation of the businesses are enormous but they are also costing the businesses in the form of digital frauds and security breaches. This is the reason why businesses need to think of more advanced technology – i.e. face verification, other than password security.

Facial Recognition Technology

A few years back, we became familiar with the biometrics, more specifically fingerprints scanning. But now as we are moving into the fourth industrial revolution, biometrics technology is also evolving and becoming more intelligent than ever before. From fingerprints scanning to voice recognition and then retina scanning and finally facial recognition, biometrics has considerably developed.

Facial Recognition technology is considered to be the secure form of biometric technology. It has been promptly adopted by organisations and businesses to combat security threats. The best face verification systems are using this AI-powered technology to identify identity frauds in real-time. The facial recognition technology basically works in three main steps:

  1. Face Detection – identifying the human face
  2. Face Capture – Capturing the human face through 2D or 3D capture and converting them into machine-readable data by applying AI algorithms
  3. Face Match – Matching the captured face features (bridge of the nose, contour points, etc.) with the already stored data in the database

However, the technology is not limited to these functions, in fact by incorporating the machine learning algorithms and neural networks this technology can detect the liveness of a person and even read the emotions in real-time.

The limitations in Passwords

The concept of passwords to protect the data and securing the information has always been there for decades. In ancient times, people used passwords to differentiate enemies from friends especially in the state of war. Now in the digital world, the passwords are used for the very same purpose i.e. to secure the private information and hinder others from accessing it. However, with the advent of technology, passwords are no more secure.

The technology has opened numerous opportunities for fraudsters and cybercriminals to steal user credentials and exploit the account. These opportunities include social engineering techniques, phishing attacks, brute force attacks, and other automated tools to hack passwords. Moreover, bad consumer practices like using generic and the same passwords for multiple accounts are making password security an inefficient and vulnerable security parameter.

Face Verification – A new authentication Parameter

To incorporate the limitations in the traditional passwords, the IT companies have introduced face verification services to verify and authenticate the users. Based on the latest AI and machine learning algorithms, face verification is gradually becoming a new parameter for security. In traditional binary authentication, anyone having the user credentials can access the information or the services, but there was no else way to check if the person is authentic or not.

Face verification is an efficient check to confirm if the users are who they claim to be or not. It serves as a strong weapon against various types of spoofing attacks and identity frauds. By ensuring the remote presence of an individual on the other side of the system, these verification services ensure that only authorised user is accessing the account.

Enhanced Customer Experience

Undoubtedly, face verification is an effective solution for fraud prevention being a complete authentication check. Moreover, it has proved to be a great service to enhance the customer experience. Many big giants like Amazon are using this technology to provide their customers with great user experience. For instance, Amazon’s “Smile to Pay” service completely works on the face verification phenomenon, in which the customer just has to smile in front of the camera to verify identity and authenticate the payment.

Face verification saves the user from the inconvenience and effort of remembering passwords and changing them more often. The face of the person acts as the digital ID and password of the person. The authentication has never been this much easy as it is now – as simple as taking a selfie.

Multi-Factor Authentication – Transforming the Verification Industry

Face verification is surely transforming the verification industry but to say that it is completely replacing the passwords won’t be the right thing. The industries are adopting Face Detection Algorithm while keeping the traditional checks as well – known as multi-factor authentication. In this type of verification, facial recognition technology is combined with two-factor authentication.

It provides three-layer security to the users because in order to authenticate their identity firstly they have to provide a password (something they know), verification code sent on their mobile or email (something they have) and lastly show their face (something they are).

Contributed by https://shuftipro.com/

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