Eight out of 10 Brits would ditch passwords for biometric security
The majority of British people would prefer to be able to use mobile biometric security rather than passwords, according to a new study.
Eight in ten (79%) Brits are ready to ditch their passwords in favour of biometric security measures like fingerprint scanner, says the new Future Password Index from digital financial services provider, Intelligent Environments. The research shows that high profile uses of biometric technology, such as iPhone 5S sales of more than 10 million, have helped contribute to a major shift in consumer attitude toward biometrics, as consumers have become used to Apple's Touch ID fingerprint scanner, which is predicted to be incorporated into iPad's shortly.
Intelligent Environments commissioned the research following its findings that more than half (51%) of UK banking customers expect their bank to introduce more innovative security measures.
Fingerprint technology was voted as the most popular biometric method according to 53% of UK banking customers, who want their banks to integrate fingerprint scanners into their digital banking services.
The least popular method was found to be voice recognition, popular with just over a quarter (27%) of customers, in spite of Barclays' recent announcement it will be introducing the technology into its telephone banking service over the next year.
While fingerprint scanners ranked top for mobile security methods, second were iris scanners with 33% of the vote followed by facial recognition technology at 30%. Beating voice verification in last place was Electrocardiogram (ECG) heartbeat monitors with 29% of votes.
Clayton Locke, chief technology officer at Intelligent Environments, said: 'In the battle of the biometrics, it's not surprising that fingerprint scanners come out on top as more people are getting used to them being built into mobile devices. But what the Future Password Index really reveals is the consumer demand for these technologies.
'Banks like Barclays are already looking at the future of passwords. Other UK banks need to start looking at how they can satisfy the rapidly escalating customer demand for biometrics by looking at implementing a range of options that best suit their customers' needs,' Locke noted.
The Future Password Index was determined from an online survey of 2,000 UK consumers.
