Biometrics Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

17Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Africa Travel, Interview, Kenya News, Main, Startups, Zimbabwe News

The Challenges and Prospects of Passport-Free Travel in Africa Using Biometrics

Willys Mac'Olale , Director of Fragomen Kenya An interview with Willys Mac’Olale, Director of Fragomen Kenya, on the innovative opportunities and barriers in using biometrics, particularly facial recognition, for passport-free travel. African countries must make an innovative leap to reach a new level of development that will improve the lives of people in Africa. What are the main drivers behind the shift to passport less travel and facial recognition in countries like the US, UAE and Europe? There are a number of reasons for this adoption including; Enhnaced security – The fact that passport less travel typically relies on biometric data which is more secure and harder to forge than traditional passports reduces the risk of identity theft and fraud. Streamlining Tr...

12Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, South Africa News, Tech

The short answer to long passwords

Our digital world has become increasingly risky where hackers access personal data and steal identities with little effort. It’s said that nearly half of all South African consumers have either been a victim of ID theft, or know someone who has, costing in the region of R1 billion a year to the economy. Identity theft is big business – where a fake ID can cost just R3000 on the dark web or in the dark alleys of the city. But are longer, more complicated passwords and security measures the answer for South Africans? A recent Google survey revealed that more than half of the respondents admitted to reusing the same password for multiple accounts. Around 80% of hacking breaches can be attributed to reused or stolen credentials. Pan-African fintech innovator, iiDENTIFii, however, has develop...

24Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

Protecting your biometrics is your birthright

Fraudsters do not discriminate. As we continually move towards the adoption of a digital and more importantly ‘touchless’ era, the platform for fraud increases. Fraud is a fraudster’s business and they often use the same business tactics we use in legitimate business, the difference being that they don’t have customers, they have victims. Thanks to an increase in data breaches, fraudsters are motivated and armed with the correct information, meaning that is very capable of impersonating an individual. The impacts of this are catastrophic. This was the warning sounded by Dalene Deale, Executive Head of Secure Citizen at the recently held SAFPS Fraud Summit. Having been a victim of identity theft herself, she knows the impact it can have on a person and the importance of creating an environ...

23Jun

By Nicolas GarciaNo Comments

Fintech

Securing the financial institutions’ physical and digital assets with biometrics

Gone are the days when the financial institutions’ (FI) only assets considered to be the gold, cash and other valuables in its vaults. With data widely acknowledged as the new gold, ensuring that only legitimate people get access into the FI’s premises and digital databases is more important than ever By: Nicolas Garcia, VP MEA, Biometric devices It is standard practice around the world for an individual to positively identify his/herself in a bank branch in order to affect all transactions. Means of identification can include what you know (PIN or password), what you have (ID document) and what you are (biometrics). It is no longer even a competition of which of the methods is considered as the most accurate for positively identifying a person – biometrics wins hands down, literally. Bio...

19May

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Events, South Africa News, Tech

A challenging, risk driven environment awaits us

As many parts of the world deal with the Third Wave of Covid-19 infections, there are growing concerns that South Africa may face harsher lockdown measures in the future as the country ramps up its vaccine roll out program. This will have a telling impact on society and will only accelerate the reliance on ecommerce business models as the public prioritizes their health and safety. Unfortunately, this also means that there will be a challenging, risk driven environment ahead of us when it comes to fraud. This was highlighted at the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS) & Insurance Crime Bureau International Fraud Summit which was held virtually on 19 May 2021. Increased Risk “We are really reaching a critical point when it comes to the economy and the extreme measures that...

How Fintech can help secure the world from the economic impact of viral pandemics

3Jun

By Mahmood AhmaduNo Comments

Fintech, Interview, Main, Nigeria News

How Fintech can help secure the world from the economic impact of viral pandemics

The coronavirus pandemic continues to turn the world and our lives upside down, with the outbreak forcing governments to put into place measures that reduce the risk of contamination, and focus on pre-emptive processes. The strain on the economy is palpable, and is an impending catastrophe that could exceed the crash of 2008, and the Great Depression a century ago, if left unchecked. Besides asking people to practice social distancing and enforcing lockdowns to avoid the spread of the contagion, governments have another source of contamination they need to worry about: banknotes. The latest Fintech innovations can help mitigate the risk of transmission of the virus, by reducing the need to use physical money. Viruses and pathogens are known to live on surfaces for up to 48 hours. Some res...

Fingerprint On The Pulse: Biometrics On The Move In More Places Than One

9Jul

By Lina Andolf-OrupNo Comments

Tech

Fingerprint On The Pulse: Biometrics On The Move In More Places Than One

By Lina Andolf-Orup, Senior Director Marketing at Fingerprints We may be halfway through 2019, but as the year hurtles onwards, it’s important to pause and reflect on the latest and greatest news from Q2. With milestones surpassed – and fading into the distance – coupled with the ongoing adoption of biometrics to bring trust to new use cases, Q2 has contributed to a very successful first half of the year. Here’s my top biometrics news picks from the past three months. The irresistible advance of biometrics In May, we announced that Fingerprints has shipped 1 billion biometric sensors worldwide. This announcement was not only an important landmark for us, but for the industry, as it demonstrates the ongoing commitment to, and mass adoption of, biometric authentication. Contributing to this ...

The Human Touch: Biometrics Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

8Jun

By Christian FredriksonNo Comments

Fintech, Tech

The Human Touch: Biometrics Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

By Christian Fredrikson, CEO, Fingerprints For thousands of years, humanity has used fingers to express itself. Crossing one’s index and middle fingers in the West means good luck, India’s intricate hand mudras indicate everything from no fear to reverence, and a thumb down signalled bad news for Rome’s gladiators. Today, however, we’re doing even more with our fingers. From accessing mobile devices to authorizing payments, the use of fingers - in particular, our fingerprints - has grown rapidly. So rapidly in fact that in May 2019, we announced that we had shipped 1 billion fingerprint sensors worldwide. But how did we get here, and where do we go next? Authentication is dead, long live authentication It’s a funny coincidence ‘PIN’ and ‘pain’ are only one letter apart. For years, PIN aut...

The future of cards, contactless and biometrics in payments

26Mar

By Thomas RexNo Comments

Tech

The future of cards, contactless and biometrics in payments

By Thomas Rex, SVP at Fingerprints It's an interesting time for the humble payment card. Card payments have steadily risen in the last two decades, but innovation of the card has slowed since the launch of contactless over ten years ago. Until, that is, the recent entrance of the biometric payment card. But what’s the value in updating the card further? Contactless cards have gained real traction in the last decade, especially in Europe. But with many markets across the globe still to take the leap to contactless, and others already looking beyond the card to mobile payments, how can we expect the card to continue to be a success? Limitless convenience Two major things concern consumers about contactless cards: security and convenience. For those already happy ‘tapping’ with contactless pa...