Smartphone users are increasingly using biometric authentication features. In 2023, more than 85% of the world’s population will be smartphone owners. According to Cisco research, biometrics are currently integrated into 81% of smartphones worldwide.
The anticipated rise of the global mobile biometrics sector, which is expected to reach a market worth roughly US$208 billion by 2032, is attributed to the desire for safe and secure authentication techniques. Research from the UK Parliament indicates that 80% of recorded fraud now occurs online, however, the growing reliance on digital platforms has also led to an increase in online fraud.
A number of cases have revealed weaknesses in biometric authentication techniques. A composite mask composed of 3D-printed plastic, silicone, cosmetics, and paper cutouts, for instance, was used by a Vietnamese security company to bypass Apple’s FaceID on the iPhone X. Similar to this, a German computer club successfully fooled Apple’s TouchID in the iPhone 5S by employing a fingerprint mask composed of rubber milk and breath moisture. Also, they used a printed prosthetic eye and a contact lens to circumvent Samsung Galaxy S8’s iris recognition technology.
According to Apple, the possibility of a random person successfully using Touch ID to unlock an iPhone or iPad is 1 in 50,000, and the probability for successfully using Face ID is 1 in 1,000,000. The National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) evaluations, however, have shown that the accuracy of biometric systems falls far short of the claims made by the majority of suppliers. The error rate for the best-performing solutions was 1.9%, which was much higher than the required target of one error for every 100,000 tests.
In a recent development, scientists from Zhejiang University and Tencent Labs presented a brand-new attack called “BrutePrint.” This technique bypasses user authentication by brute-forcing fingerprints on contemporary cellphones and takes over the device.
The existence of these flaws calls into question the efficiency and dependability of mobile device biometric authentication. Technology must continue to improve in order to solve these flaws and provide strong security measures. To secure user data and privacy in the digital era, it is crucial to strengthen the security of biometric authentication systems as businesses work to combat fraud and comply with regulations like PSD2, which demand strong customer authentication.
