That’s a Wrap! Looking Back On the FindBiometrics Enterprise Online Summit

The FindBiometrics Enterprise Biometrics Online Summit is now in the books, and we’re here to bring you all of the highlights from the September 22 event. The virtual Summit focused on enterprise applications of biometric technology, with a particular emphasis on technologies that can help businesses protect their physical and digital assets during the pandemic.

The day kicked off with a keynote from Jeremy Grant, who is the Coordinator of the Better Identity Alliance. In his keynote, Grant encouraged businesses to take a consolidated approach to digital identity, noting that important functions (including security functions) often get overlooked when people implement piecemeal solutions. In that regard, businesses can follow the NIST’s standards and guidelines to build a safe environment. Naomi Lefkovitz, the NIST’s Senior Privacy Policy Advisor, detailed some of the steps that organizations can take to build a privacy-oriented workforce during a separate discussion later in the day.

FaceTec SVP Jay Meier took the stage after Grant to give a brief talk on the PKI Fallacy, explaining that there is a difference between device and user authentication. Organizations need to make sure that they are actually verifying the user when they try to confirm someone’s identity, and that breaches are more likely to occur when they only verify the device rather than the person holding it.

The day would eventually proceed with a presentation from Maxine Most, the Principal Analyst for Acuity Market Intelligence. Most has continued to track the surging interest in biometric digital identity solutions, noting that investments (which were already high) have skyrocketed at an accelerating rate since part one of her talk at the FindBiometrics Identity Summit in June.

The day also featured several panel conversations. In the first, Group337 CEO Lee Odess, ZKTeco CEO Manish Dalal, and Soloinsight President and CTO Farhan Masood discussed some of the ways in which businesses can use contactless technologies to enable the safe return to physical workspaces during the pandemic. Odess would later expand on the topic in a subsequent presentation, and urged businesses to embrace new technologies that better address the our advanced digital environment.

In another conversation, IDEMIA’s Senor Director of Identity for North America, Tarvinder Sembhi, explored potential applications of mobile IDs in commercial and corporate settings. 5K Technical Services President and CEO Corey Kirkendoll, meanwhile, took things beyond the realm of theory. His company is a managed IT services specialist that operates out of Texas, and he walked viewers through a customer case study to show how modern identity technologies can lead to tangible improvements once they have been deployed.

Finally, Frost & Sullivan Security Industry Analyst Danielle VanZandt explained how organizations can use multi-factor authentication to move away from passwords and enforce a zero trust security environment, while Ed Ackerman and Ankur Patel wrapped up the day with a talk about how biometrics and reusable identity credentials will improve organizational security while still preserving people’s privacy. Ackerman is the Director of Alliances and Partnerships for Onfido, while Patel is the Principal Program Manager at Microsoft.

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Be sure to stay tuned to FindBiometrics for the latest news from the world of biometrics, and for information on the next event in the FindBiometrics Online Summit series!

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September 29, 2021 – by Eric Weiss