Abstract

The rapid digitization of society has presented many opportunities and challenges for the protection of sensitive data in several sectors and organizations including banks, health care, education, transport, business organizations, defense and public dealings. Traditional knowledge and possession based authentication systems are no longer sufficient as these are vulnerable to password fatigue, theft, and potentially security breaches. Biometric-based authentication exists to provide a greater level of security, safety and reliability, however, a combination of biometric with one time password (OTP) can provide greater safety and security. Academic literature and trade reports highlighted the biometric authentication utilizes unique human physiological and behavioral identifiers in order to effectively meet security and experience needs of users. Physical biometric includes matching with unique fingerprinting, analysis of facial features, mapping of unique pattern of iris and retina, scanning of vein patterns in the palm and or finger and the measurement of size and shape of fingers and hands. Behavioral biometrics include authentication of a person with his/her voice, the way of walking and heart rate pattern but the behavioral biometrics is neither trustworthy nor reliable in the age of artificial intelligence. The paper reviews the cost ownership, usability, scalability, security, and privacy of various biometric systems. It also situates biometrics within the larger universe of digital risk management and cyber security resilience, whereby biometrics could help mediate risk in online banking and other financial services. In conclusion we find that, while the initial investment is greater in biometric based security, but the continued declining technology costs and scalability has biometrics as an increasingly attractive and sustainable possibility for protecting against digital fraud and counterfeit in an interconnected online world.

Keywords

biometric authentication, cyber security, digital risk management, online banking security, user experience