The Business Journal

Biometrics gaining place in banking, travel, health care

By Becca Mader   
February 22, 2002 

When the federal government handed down a mandate for criminal background checks on all airline and airport personnel in mid-November, officials at Dane County Regional Airport turned to biometrics -- the only way they thought they would quickly and efficiently handle that task.

The airport is just one of the users of a technology that has been steadily garnering supporters in a variety of industries, especially following Sept. 11. 

Biometrics -- which uses physical features to verify an identity -- cannot only be used for background checks, but also to permit access to records and network servers in hospitals or health care organizations, for example. In the banking industry, it can be used for online banking and ATMs or to restrict access to certain building areas. 
Unlike keys, passwords and PINs, a person's biometric identification is always with them and cannot be compromised or reproduced. 

The concern over terrorism and security threats has helped generate public acceptance, due to "an increased sense of urgency and awareness," said Richard Norton, executive director of the International Biometrics Industry Association, a trade association in Washington, D.C. 

Compliance with federal regulations, in industries such as transportation and health care, has helped the market, which generated $170 million in revenue in 2001 and is expected to reach $2 billion by 2006, Norton said. There are hundreds of vendors that provide biometric devices. 

"It's a very important part of the security equation," Norton said. 

The technology entails recording different characteristics of a person, such as the ridges and swirls within a fingerprint, frequency and cadence of a voice, shape of a face, iris images, blood vessel patterns on a retina, geometry of a hand, or appearance of a signature. Then the characteristics of this image are converted into a binary code, or a mixture of 1s and 0s, so they can be stored as a template. When that person wants to gain access to confidential records or to a high-security physical location, for example, their characteristic must be matched up with the template for verification purposes before access is granted. 

Fingerprint scanning continues to be the most common biometrics application. It's like the classic form of fingerprint checking, except the person places his or her finger on an inkless surface, which is built into a mouse or keyboard. 

CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS 

Dane County Regional Airport is using the technology initially only to handle the criminal background checks. Scrapping the traditional ink fingerprint process, the airport installed a $36,000 fingerprint-scanning machine in early January. What used to take six to eight weeks to receive results has now been reduced to 48 hours as a result of transmitting the image electronically and comparing it to a database. 

"It improves upon the efficiency and makes it difficult for somebody with a questionable background to beat the system," said Marty Lenss, airport operations manager. He expects all of its 530 employees to have background checks completed by April, far ahead of the federal deadline of Dec. 6. The airport is one of 21 in the nation that use the product by Identix, a Los Gatos, Calif.-based vendor of finger-recognition devices. 

Though the scanner is not used for physical access to parts of the airport, Lenss said he doesn't rule out that option because "as the technology improves, we will see more changes to come." 

The front-runner in the use of biometrics is law enforcement, said Dario Stipisic, senior consultant for the International Biometric Group, an integration and consulting firm in New York. Its widespread use in that area is not surprising, considering the idea for biometrics was generated through the FBI's Automated Fingerprint Identification System, a system that compares fingerprints against a large database. 

But the financial, health care and travel industries are catching up, due to high levels of sensitive records, security concerns and the need to comply with industry regulations. New regulations in the health care industry, for example, call for providers to have technology to secure access to patient records. Airports can use biometrics in boarding terminals. 
"Government and health care will drive (biometrics) in the short term," said Frank Fitzsimmons, chief operating officer for Iridian Technologies, a vendor of iris recognition products in Moorestown, N.J. For companies, the use of the technology can translate into reduced administrative costs, increased efficiency and enhanced security. 

ACCURACY INCREASING 

Accuracy is increasing, prices are gradually decreasing and the size of the devices has become more convenient. An iris-recognition system last year cost $2,000 per door. In 2002, it costs $200 for a scaled-down version, said Fitzsimmons. 
A fingerprint-scanning device to help with network access, for example, costs $150, while one for physical access costs about $600 to $1,000, said Damon Wright, a spokesman for Identix. 

Wright declined to name specific companies, but said Identix has provided products to some Wisconsin banks for use in background checks. Some brokerage firms and other businesses in the state are testing Identix products. None of the 4,500 ATMs in Wisconsin use biometrics yet. 

The state Department of Transportation uses a form of biometric identification with its digitized driver's licenses and image database system, which started in 1997. The state set up a contract with Viisage Technologies, a provider of biometric devices, for security reasons and for a more efficient way of verifying identities, said Dennis Nussbaum, deputy director of field services. 

Though a digital image now is used only to find a single individual based on an exact match, the department could choose to use facial recognition technology, which would allow for the screening of a facial image based on certain distinctive features and for comparison against a larger database. However, the state DOT doesn't have enough money to do that now, Nussbaum said. 

The state Department of Corrections uses a Viisage product for digital images that has the potential for facial mapping. The department now captures digital images for use on staff IDs that employees use for general identification and for access to keys. Inmates use the product, too, to check out books in the library, purchase items in the prison store, and to enter and exit different areas of the prison. 

'BIG BROTHER' CONCERN 

Although biometrics adds a greater layer of security, its use has also raised privacy concerns. Some critics are concerned about a "Big Brother" presence created by the devices, such as video cameras equipped with facial-recognition technology that were used to scan the crowds at the Super Bowl, Olympics and Boston's Logan Airport. 
But Bill Rogers, publisher of Biometrics Digest, a monthly publication based in St. Louis, thinks there should be no privacy worries if appropriate guidelines and procedures are in place for the technology and people are trained about its proper use. 

There is no foolproof biometric system, Rogers said. 

"There is no guarantee, but it raises the bar for security to a much higher level," Rogers said.