GEC NEWS WIREBiometrics are set to drive a significant improvement in protecting mobile phone users from a serious breach of their private or business data, with many devices currently creating an “unlocked back door” to online accounts and cloud storage, says Axiom telecom.
“The risk of criminals using a lost or stolen mobile phone to access important data is very real, with smartphones offering an instant connection to email, messaging and social networking accounts, as well as files kept in cloud storage. Your very identity is at risk of theft, yet a worrying number of users fail to activate their phone’s security features. The inconvenience of entering a PIN every time the user wants to unlock the phone is often cited as a reason for this. Using biometrics to unlock the phone can remove this inconvenience and help keep data secure, with fingerprint security already gaining acceptance. For a higher level of protection, biometrics pave the way for convenient two-factor verification – you enter a PIN, using ‘something you know’ to verify your identity, and then use a fingerprint, which is ‘something you have’, to confirm that it was you who entered the code. Anyone trying to break into the phone needs to know the PIN, and also somehow obtain a copy of your fingerprint,” said Faisal Al Bannai, MD, Axiom Telecom.
