Invixium Advises Companies Not to Abandon Biometric Security Practices

Invixium has addressed people’s concerns about contact-based biometric modalities like fingerprint recognition in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The company noted that many state and local institutions have discouraged the use of shared fingerprint readers in an effort to stop the spread of the virus, with the government of India and the NYPD being amongst those who have suspended their use of such technology.

While Invixium acknowledged that the coronavirus has changed the way that people view shared technology, it warned organizations not to forego their existing biometric security. The company argued that malicious actors may try to take advantage of lax standards if people are no longer using fingerprint authentication to protect high-risk interactions, and that shared readers are no more or less dangerous than other high-traffic objects like door handles. However, Invixium did advise other organizations to take extra health precautions, and to sanitize shared readers with much more frequency than usual.  

Invixium then went on to highlight some of the benefits of contactless modalities like facial recognition. According to Invixium, those modalities were already gaining traction before the onset of the pandemic, and the virus may encourage more organizations to update their security infrastructure. The company argues that facial recognition is preferable to modalities like iris recognition or contactless fingerprint scanners because facial recognition is easier to use and performs better in rugged environments.

On that front, Invixium did take the opportunity to promote its IXM Titan line of biometric scanners, an access control solution with facial recognition capabilities. The scanners can be combined with cards to offer touchless multi-factor authentication. Invixium also stressed that the Titan camera only activates for step-up authentication requests, which distinguishes it from the more invasive use of facial recognition in public surveillance systems. The Titan only stores the biometric templates of people who have deliberately enrolled in the system.

At the very least, the Invixium press release demonstrates that the coronavirus is having an impact in every sector of the economy. The biometrics industry is no exception, and it’s likely that it will still be quite some time before its scope is fully understood.

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March 20, 2020 – by Eric Weiss