How Multimodal Biometric Authentication Technology Can Help Your Business Systems using multimodal biometrics have been shown to be able to address several issues with unimodal ones

The technological advancements in recent years have seen significant advancements in authentication technology. It is becoming clear that biometric solutions are more reliable and secure to keep systems from manipulation and hacking or bypassing. Biometrics systems, like any other system, follow a set of guidelines that guarantee the system's security and validity. The earlier biometric system used by agencies, and organizations had some limitations such as noise in sensed data, intra-class variations, inter-class similarities, non-universalities, spoof attacks, etc., which have been overcome by the emergence of multimodal biometric authentication. Biometric authentication employs a unique combination of measurable physical characteristics—fingerprint, facial features, iris of the eye, voice print and so on—that cannot be readily imitated or forged by others.

A more secure biometric authentication

The loopholes present in unimodal biometric authentication were addressed by the introduction of multimodal biometric authentication which makes use of more than one physiological or behavioral characteristic for verification. It also provides anti-spoofing measures by making it difficult for an intruder to spoof multiple biometric traits simultaneously.

Systems using multimodal biometrics have been shown to be able to address several issues with unimodal ones. A multimodal system makes use of many biometric factors and as a result, the fusion enables the initialization of more data points, improving the classification of data points. The combination of criteria also gives the system flexibility and avoids noisy data from having a significant impact on the outcome. Multimodal systems are typically more secure since there are numerous layers of authentication and the system can still be secured even if one of the elements is compromised. In order to address the issue of non-universality, the system analyses patterns from multiple biometric parameters. The system will still be able to authenticate someone with other factors even if they lack a necessary factor. While establishing a multimodal biometrics system has many benefits, which gives businesses an advantage in carrying out their processes smoothly.

The use of biometric authentication

Businesses are beginning to see the advantages of transitioning to biometric technology from conventional authentication methods. Technological improvements, a rise in cyberattacks, and the failure of pin-user-password authentication schemes have all contributed to the growth of biometrics. In addition, the emergence of e-wallets and the digitalization of traditional capital markets, insurance, and banking have altered how businesses were conducted. However, threats rise as the digital assault surface widens. Businesses are using biometrics to prevent identity fraud, provide audit trails, and secure financial data.

The use of multimodal biometric authentication is allowing businesses to reduce reliance on cards, PINs, and passwords, improving trust by assuring exclusive access to accounts. The rise of new and advanced multimodal biometric authentication security provides access control systems with facial recognition and fingerprint readers to prevent ID fraud by securing the identity of individuals. At the same time, it also integrates with login and work attendance systems to reduce the manual workload of the organizations.

In India, the adoption of biometric authentication gained prevalence with the introduction of Aadhaar. To secure the digital identity of individuals, Aadhaar makes use of multimodal authentication using a combination of biometrics: fingerprint and iris to ensure credible and authentic identification. The identity is created based on the biometric features of the individual it becomes easy to secure the data against any fraud as per the IBEF data in August 2022 23.45 crore e-KYC transactions were completed showing the trust enhanced by Aadhaar and the security provided by it.

To conclude

It can be concluded that authentication comes in various forms. The most popular the authentication mechanism is biometrics. The increasing necessity for security had given rise to a superior system known as a multimodal biometric system from the simple unimodal systems that biometrics initially used, which typically included just one biometric feature for authentication. Multiple biometric elements are used in multimodal systems, making them more secure and flexible with regard to different biometric factors. Furthermore, the coming up of digital solution providers has increased the security of the financial sector by combining biometric authentication to build efficient and secure multimodal authentication systems.