Mobile Security: Enhancement with Biometrics

Mobile revolution has changed the world in ways never known before and has given rise to an urgent need for security solutions that can keep pace with the fast paced interconnected ways of life.

Advanced mobile computing ecosystems brought about by Apple, Google, Samsung and others have proved to be game changers in tech innovations but they are not necessarily backed by full proof security measures.

Regular mobile phones are fast making way for smartphones and tablets that have the ability to download a multitude of apps. On the move, these gadgets give us the power to create, store and access vast amounts of information over the Internet.

Security Breaches Have Cost Billions

Theft of data, hacking of identity, tearing down of password security features, viruses eating into the software and other such attacks globally have already caused losses worth billions of dollars.

Exponential growth of mobile devices and the expanding internet coverage only make the challenge for ensuring security that much more.

Security tools - PINs and passwords, relied upon for decades, are not enough as Internet criminals and hackers get the smarter of technologies developed and those being developed.

Protecting the mobile device is needed but it is not sufficient because the goal for any kind of security is to protect data, be it identity, corporate data, health records or anything that one would not want to make public. That needs a cutting edge approach to security of the device as well as when using the device.

Why Biometrics?

There has been a lot of experimentation with many types of security solutions, but it is increasingly being felt that such high end security can only be provided by biometrics, a unique biological code signature that every human is differently born with.

Security tools using multiple types of biometrics, like fingerprints, voice, iris and facial features have been developed and are being regularly used. These unique personal characteristics provides a high degree of accuracy in identifying a person and in giving access to secured data stored against the person’s identity.

How Does Biometrics Work?

Being unique for every being, a user’s biometrics is captured by a reader camera or a microphone built into or attached to a mobile computing device.

Where the data stored on the device is capable of authenticating the user, more sophisticated security features resort to verifying the biometrics with the data stored on a trusted central server.

For a sophisticated biometric based security system to work, it is essential that there is a quick, easy and secure way to access and verify a variety of detailed biometric files stored on a secured server. Storing and accessing a user biometric ID files from someplace secure - some place other than the mobile device only enhances the security feature.

One Biometric Authentication May Not Be Enough

iPhone 5s Apple did introduce a fingerprint technology for controlling access to the device but the singular biometric authentication process can be violated by a skilled criminal or a crime organization that is capable of exploring mass storage cells of a lost mobile device and are able to read sensitive information.

Data requiring a higher level of security needs to be subjected to multi factor authentication process as it improves the security and reliability of the device significantly.

A fingerprint biometric may grant a user access to his device but a secure enterprise mail app may require the user to authenticate themselves via voice recognition before he can access his email account.

Encryption for Secure Communication

With mobile devices being increasingly used for financial transactions and maintaining personal records, effective security has to be provided for the device when in use.

When a biometric authentication needs to be done, it is critical that a secure communication session, protected by encryption, is established between the mobile device and the central server through a temporary cryptographic key. This ensures that critical data exchanged by the two devices is not captured by a hacker or a rogue app installed on the mobile device.

Not just for convenience and enhanced security, biometric authentication has been able to eliminate the use of password in any interaction between a user and a mobile device.