Guy Churchwood, CEO of IT infrastructure consultancy company LogLogic, first looks at biometrics in the form of logical access control comparing it to having one password that can never be changed. Further, Andrew Clarke, vice president and managing director of the Europe Middle East and Africa region for access control security company e-DMZ Security, looked specifically at fingerprint scanners citing them as inherently flawed due to their visual-based authentication leaving them very open to fraud. Clarke adds that not only are the systems open to fraud, but that obtaining an individual’s fingerprint sample is also very simple. A third expert, CTO of authentication technology developer Imprivata David Ting, went on to elaborate further speaking to flaws dependent on where and how the password data is stored and matched.

All three experts, however, agree with having multiple factors of authentication, such as biometrics and a password. While each of them acknowledges that a leak of biometric data would still constitute potentially damaging and irreversible data being in the hands of someone it should not be, utilizing a second form of authentication on systems would significantly reduce the usefulness of such stolen data to a fraudster or criminal.

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