Biometric-fingerprint beats traditional passwords
By IT-Observer Staff
Monday, 3 October 2005 10:06 EST



Consumers find current password to be inadequate for ensuring security for their personal information. As such, they are dropping traditional password authentication and are becoming more and more interested in adopting fingerprint-recognition technology.

In a survey of 100 consumers, over half of the respondents believe that passwords are not a secure measure to protect critical data. Further more, over 80 percent expressed their intention to abandon passwords and move to biometric fingerprint recognition technology.

"The survey clearly indicates that people are fed up with keeping track of multiple passwords with inconvenient methods, like writing them on Post-It notes, while trying to protect access to valuable data such as online bank accounts and email,” said Alan Kramer, president and CEO of UPEK, Inc.

“Consumers and businesses are recognizing the inherent shortcomings of passwords and they are looking to fingerprint authentication as the most viable solution,” continued Kramer.

Additional results from the survey has shown that the most popular method of creating passwords is using personal information such as a pet name or child’s name. Moreover, 72 percent of the respondents said they are using the same password for all logins.

Although nearly all respondents concern about password-security, almost the same amount have critical information protected solely by passwords.

The survey, conducted by UPEK, targeted 100 participants in San Francisco, Calif.