Your trusted source

In recent years, biometrics has played an increasingly important role in technology. According to ExpressVPN, biometrics refers to a range of different physical or behavioral attributes unique to an individual. They generally help identify or authenticate people. Researchers have estimated that the global biometric system market will amount to 68.6 billion USD by 2025.

Biometrics can include fingerprint mapping, retina scans, and voice recognition. These forms of technology are part of the safety protocols in the immigration, healthcare sectors, and more. 

Also, smartphones have recently adopted biometrics with fingerprint and facial recognition functions to unlock phones or access apps. Considering how biometrics technology collects such high-profile data about individuals, it’s clear why it’s such an attractive target for hackers.

With biometrics, privacy seems to be the biggest problem. Recently, Samsung Electronics was embroiled in a data breach when the hacking and extortion group, Lapsus$, leaked nearly 190GB worth of data. The breach involved biometric, encryption, and cryptographic repositories. 

Even though Samsung says customer personal information was not compromised, it might only be a matter of time before hackers are able to gain access to sensitive data that could impact consumers.

So, what can consumers do to protect themselves against biometric attacks? These are some everyday things people can do to safeguard their data:

Always update apps and software. Apps and operating softwares often have bugs that impact function and performance. App and software updates help improve the security of devices, which in turn protects the personal information of the user. Hackers often target outdated designs in apps and software to exploit vulnerabilities and steal personal information.

Getting into the habit of updating apps and software can also improve an app’s performance and a device’s speed.

Use a password generator to create stronger passwords. Everyone knows the importance of using strong passwords, but not everyone adopts a password generator to create stronger passwords.

Simple and common passwords like Password123 and your birthday are easy to hack and figure out. To avoid this, use a credible password generator instead. Password generators are great because they help generate random and customized passwords, depending on a user’s needs. They can also be generated depending on your length and other factors.

Besides creating random passwords, practice proper password hygiene and avoid using similar passwords across various platforms and accounts.

If you can’t keep up with all the random passwords you’ve generated, password vaults are also available to help securely store all passwords. Some of these vaults require payment, but it’s a small price to pay for some peace of mind.

Use multi-factor authentication (MFA). Passwords are great, but they don’t always offer enough security when it comes to protecting accounts, which is why it’s important to have some sort of MFA system in place. MFAs add another layer of protection, making it harder for hackers to gain access.

Biometrics are often considered a form of MFA, but other forms such as authentication apps are also used.

Plenty of technology companies employ the use of authentication apps to secure accounts and there are plenty of external apps users can download to have better security in place for daily use.

Authentication apps often link to cellphone to trigger a unique set of numbers that users need to enter before logging in to an account.

Do your research. Before handing over any biometric data or any data for that matter, users should check if the site or account they’re signing up for is legitimate. In recent times, scammers have been coming up with more sophisticated methods of stealing personal information. These methods include mirroring legitimate sites and SMshing.

By mirroring legitimate sites, scammers obtain the log-in details of a user when they try to log into an account. Once they’ve stolen these credentials, hackers could attempt to get into other accounts or even create fake accounts, effectively stealing the user’s online identity as well.

Opt-out of using biometric data. These days, plenty of sites and devices offer multiple ways for users to sign up for or log into accounts. It’s not always necessary to provide biometric information when logging in, so, if a user feels uncomfortable, they can always opt-out of doing so. Instead of using facial recognition or fingerprint scanning to unlock their phones, users can input a code instead.

In the future, it’s predicted that biometrics will be used as a secure way for consumers to interact with banking and payment apps. The healthcare industry has also predicted that biometrics could evolve to help track patients’ vitals, making it easier to identify health issues. Biometric technology can be beneficial and make the process of verification and authentication a breeze, but it still has its challenges. Follow the steps above to adequately protect your data.