Page 55 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2018

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Why Smartphone Security Should Grow Beyond Biometrics
After passwords and traditional biometrics, behavioral biometrics is transforming the
security of smartphones

by Alex Miller

An average user either uses a PIN, pattern or a password to secure his phone. When it comes to passwords,
we are advised to create strong ones that are hard to crack, but the problem is, they are easy to forget. In a
study conducted UnifyID, 75% of the respondents said it was difficult for them to track their passwords and
83 percent claimed they never want to use a password on their phone again.

That’s just the customer’s side of the story; wait till you hear the vendor’s side. The IT staff complains that
resolving the password issue is a significant drain. As per the Forrester Report, users contact help desks
28 times a year for password issues. What about the two-factor authentications? Don’t they provide an
added layer of security? Yes, they do make it difficult for attackers to impersonate a user, but it’s a
cumbersome process which most users don’t want to get into.

Thanks to encryption and biometric, a user no longer has to enter a password to access his phone or type
multiple special characters the next time he wants to use his smartphone for purchasing something. Mobile
manufacturers have started embedding biometrics such as fingerprint or face, voice or iris sensors to provide
a higher security assurance to users. People like choosing convenience over security and biometrics
relieved them of the responsibility of creating and remembering a strong password.