Unisys Study Indicates Strong Support for Biometric-Based ID

A new research study from the Unisys Corporation indicates that nearly 70 percent of consumers worldwide support the use of biometric technologies such as fingerprints or voice recognition administered by a trusted organization, as a way to verify an individual's identity.  The study's implications for aviation security seem obvious.

In the first worldwide survey of its kind to study consumer security preferences, the Unisys research also found that 66 percent of consumers worldwide also favored biometrics as the ideal method to combat fraud and identity theft as compared to other methods such as smart cards and tokens. This finding shows a slight increase from separate research that Unisys conducted in September 2005, which found 61 percent of consumers favored biometrics as the preferred method to fight fraud and identity theft.

"This research is revealing since many headlines today seem to question biometric adoption because of legitimate privacy concerns," said Mark Cohn, Unisys Corporation's vice president of homeland security solutions.

The Ponemon Institute conducted the survey on behalf of Unisys.  Additional findings on biometrics include:

• Convenience was the top reason for biometrics support with 82 percent citing the benefit of not having to remember separate passwords or other login data.  More than three quarters of consumers cited improving the speed of the identity verification process as their primary reason for using biometrics.

• Consumers from North America support biometrics for identity verification more than any other region (71 percent), followed by Europe (69 percent) and Asia Pacific (68 percent).  In contrast, Latin Americans were the least supportive (58 percent).

• Voice recognition is the most favored authentication method, cited by 32 percent of respondents, followed by fingerprints (27 percent), facial scan (20 percent), hand geometry (12 percent) and iris scans (10 percent), perhaps reflecting more consumer awareness of and experience with voice and fingerprint biometrics.

• North Americans are significantly less supportive of facial scans compared to other regions, with only 10 percent citing it as the preferred method, compared to 27 percent of consumers in Europe, 23 percent in Asia Pacific and 20 percent in Latin America.

• Of those respondents who did not favor biometrics for identity verification, almost three quarters (74 percent) were suspicious of the technology, followed by 62 percent who cited they prefer to give non-biometric identification methods.

• "Despite some geographic cultural differences with certain specifics of the technologies, overall as more and more people learn about biometrics, convenience seems to outweigh concerns," Cohn said. "Companies and governments can achieve the benefits of secure business operations with biometrics solutions through added efficiency and greater customer service."

Unisys just opened a new biometrics Centre of Excellence in Brussels, which along with its other location in Reston, Virginia, will be used to demonstrate real-life scenarios of biometrics technologies for travel security applications such and e-passports and customs declarations, as well as identity verification in healthcare records, financial data, law enforcement and other situations.

The Unisys research is part of a broader analysis of identity authentication that it intends to address at the upcoming 15th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT 2006) that will take place in Austin, Texas, May 1-5, 2006. Unisys says it also will present policy proposals to WCIT delegates on the need for standards around procedures and practices in global identity authentication.  04-29-2006.

Click here to become a registered Flt Tech Online subscriber and receive headlines delivered to your e-mail each week

Click here to go back to the headlines