Biometrics Challenges Security Industry in the 21st Century
by Dr Chris Flaherty
Biometrics Security represents a new commercial model for Australia’s security industry. What is Biometrics?
Biometrics covers a variety of technology in which unique identifiable attributes of people are used for identification and authentication. In simple terms, it is using cutting-edge medical, IT and computing -based technology to find new ways of achieving security in the 21st Century.
From a commercial perspective, an enduring feature of Biometrics Security is that it will always be sitting on the cusp of innovation. Commercially, the big questions are: how is the implementation of innovation paid for, and what are the business models for this emerging industry?
Security is the biggest issue of this decade and any organisation maintaining the confidence of its customers needs to stay abreast of the latest security trends from around the world. The question is – how is this paid for? A recent example of such a commercial strategy is the Bank of Tokyo’s adoption of a biometric-based PalmSecure system, the developmental and delivery costs of which were offset by increased profit gained through offering customers a new multi-function cash, credit and EFTPOS-type card used at banking outlets using the PalmSecure system.
If statements made by Labor over 2007 indicate the position of the Rudd government on the role of Biometrics Security, industry needs to understand that biometrics will be a key component of higher security systems; in particular an important part of the security screening and identification process. Other increasingly significant market developments include:
- Vascular recognition (vein-capturing technology); facial and voice recognition technologies; and the Registered Traveller System – a technology which captures a traveller’s two irises, all 10 fingerprints and takes an image of the individual’s face - currently used in a number of United States airports.
- Closed Loop Environment for Wireless.
- Biometric-based palm-print identification systems.
Key features of the Biometrics Security market space are companies like NEC, which may see itself as an innovator and supplier of Biometrics Security solutions, while much of the rest of the market space covers the integrators.
It seems clear that the Rudd government also puts an emphasis on home-grown Australia-based users, suppliers and research people leading in the innovation and implementation of Biometrics Security. A key example of this new commercial strategy is the Unysis Security Innovation Centre at the University of Canberra. A partnership between Unisys, an IT services company, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the university, this centre provides a platform for the private sector to engage with research capacity and government engagement.
Alacrity Technologies took advantage of this platform with a demonstration of its Closed Loop Environment for Wireless, which secures financial transactions conducted through mobile devices. Demonstrating through entities like the Unysis Security Innovation Centre helps provide a broader reach for potential customers, such as the blue-chip clients who can mobilise their client base among the financial organisations.
For young companies – either innovators or integrators – joining organisations such as the Biometrics Institute can be an important strategy in gaining access to the Biometric Security market space. The Institute was set up in 2001 as an independent not-for-profit membership organisation, with primary members including government and users of biometric services and products. It also provides other membership categories for vendors throughout Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the US and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
For traditional security companies wanting to access the Biometrics Security market space, the challenge is that the core drivers are private-sector IT services companies, research and government, who have already established the market arena. To be brutally frank, the current Biometrics Security market does not need the traditional security industry. Ironically, biometrics has adopted all the traditional methodologies and ideas but does not need the people who come with these; traditional security companies are hard-pressed to remain relevant in this type of market.
Entities like the Unysis Security Innovation Centre model the future for companies wanting to access the Biometrics Security market space, providing crucial proof-of-concept trials, test-bedding, and demonstration of biometric technologies, which can be developed by, or in collaboration with, local and overseas partners.
The commercial challenge for companies wanting to access the Biometrics Security market space will be negotiating with huge commercial primes who have the capacity to engage in the R&D interface with potential customers and have the ability to promote cutting-edge technology, as well as investing in Intellectual Property and research in order to stay ahead of security challenges from corporate crime, cyber attack and change. The economics underpinning this transformation are huge, as is the scale of change that we will experience – because Biometrics Security is about us.
About the author: Christopher Flaherty is currently an independent critical infrastructure protection advisor; living in London He is currently, a Visiting Fellow in Safety and Risk at the University of New South Wales. He earned his PhD in Philosophy in 2002. Following 2005, he was the network administrator for the Research Network for a Secure Australia and research leader for counter-terrorism. From 2006, he was the security and counter-terrorism R&D manager at Sinclair Knight Merz, and was their research leader for the Building Vulnerability Analysis Project, and then a Principal Consultant with Critical Infrastructure Protection Pty Ltd.