While it is interesting to think that biometrics can be used for everything, the reality is less promising. Biometrics will continue to be adopted in both the logical and physical access worlds. The biometrics used for logical cases will still need to be low in cost, high in user acceptance and very easy to use. The biometric device will also need to have a small footprint on the desktop. This will limit these logical cases biometric devices to finger, hand face, eye and voice types (Jain et al. 55). For physical entrance, the selection of biometrics will depend on their application. If it is a high volume application, then an active biometric will need to be used like face voice and gait. In case the application has lower throughput requirements; then many of the same types of biometrics used for logical access will also apply.
As for one biometric itself becoming pervasive that that will depend on the cost and user acceptance. Currently, the implementation of biometrics into devices like laptops and phones has not progressed at the rate anticipated (Busch 21). In acknowledgment of the established lack of security implemented by password authentication, network administration is, in growing numbers, replacing networks passwords with smart cards, biometric verification, or a combination of the three. Smartcards are credit card size tools that engender random numbers almost every minute, in sync with equivalents on every entry point in the network. To log on a computer, users enter a password and the number that appears on the smart cards LED window (ASANI 15). Smartcards operate well as long as the card is not stolen. A better alternative to ensure network safety is the use of biometrics.
Works Cited
ASANI, E. Oluwatobi. "A REVIEW OF TRENDS OF AUTHENTICATION MECHANISMS FOR ACCESS CONTROL." Computing, Information Systems, Development Informatics & Allied Research Journal 5.2 (2014).
Busch, Christoph. "Facing the future of biometrics." EMBO reports 7.1S (2006): S23-S25.
Jain, Anil, Ruud Bolle, and Sharath Pankanti, eds. Biometrics: personal identification in networked society. Vol. 479. Springer Science & Business Media, 2006.
