5 Key Advantages of Biometric Security Systems
Biometric security is not a new development–in fact, biometrics have been implemented to strengthen security systems for years. However, with new advances like enhanced sensors and artificial intelligence integration, biometric technology has taken some huge leaps forward in recent years, enabling businesses and institutions alike to provide stronger real-time security for their facilities than ever before.
What makes biometric systems so secure? Unlike traditional security access methods like keycards, passwords, and numeric codes, biometric technology uses measurable human traits, characteristics, or behaviors to verify a person’s identity. While the most common forms of biometrics involve identification through physical traits like fingerprint or facial recognition, biometric sensors can also identify people by behavioral or structural characteristics, such as their body shape, their gait, or even the way they type at a computer keyboard. In the era of COVID-19, some institutions now even use biometrics to measure body temperature, able to detect if someone develops a fever at work! If you’ve been considering integrating a biometric security system at your school, hospital, facility, or place of business, let’s look at five benefits you’ll enjoy by doing so.
- More Robust Security
With traditional keycard or passcode-based systems, all it takes to gain access to a facility is for someone to hack the code or steal/counterfeit the keycard. If a bad actor manages to get their hands on these items, they can easily gain access to your facility. By contrast, since biometric data is unique to each individual, biometric systems are much more difficult to bypass or hack–plus, one cannot “lose” their fingerprint the way they could lose a keycard. This makes the system more secure all around.
- Added Convenience
Biometric systems make security much more seamless and convenient compared to traditional systems. Employees, students, or other authorized personnel who enter your facility don’t have to fumble for a keycard or memorize their password. Their body is their passport, so to speak. Thus, they can enter and exit the facility easily and without hassle.
- Increased Accuracy
Biometric systems are much more accurate and reliable than traditional security systems. For example, if a keycard wears out due to use or friction, the system may not be able to identify the person using it–or worse, misidentify them. Because fingerprints and other biometrics are unique to each individual, there is little to no chance of two people being confused for one another or for the system not to recognize them. Additionally, thanks to advances in sensor technology, false positives and negatives have become increasingly rare.
- Real-Time Monitoring and Ongoing Identification
Not all security risks are at your access points; sometimes they happen when an authorized individual does unauthorized things once they’ve cleared security. Biometric security systems can help here as well. By integrating biometrics with AI technology, for example, the system can detect when someone is behaving in an unusual manner or following unpredictable patterns of movement, sending an alert for your security team to watch more closely for signs of theft or damage. By the same token, if an unauthorized person does manage to get past a security access point, real-time monitoring can detect that the intruder’s biometric data is not in the system and send an alert.
- Improved Health and Wellness
In the wake of the COVID pandemic, people are understandably more conscious about illness and more concerned about returning to the office or to in-person learning. Biometric technology can help you maintain a safe and healthy environment in several ways–not just by detecting whether someone is showing symptoms like a fever or cough, but also by measuring whether too many people are clustered in an area with insufficient ventilation, etc. This helps you maintain a healthy environment where people feel safer, whether they are coming to work, study, or visit.
At Peace of Mind Technology, we can integrate biometrics into your existing security system or design-build a whole new system for you. We also provide industry-leading monitoring and maintenance services for existing security systems. To learn more about the possible advantages of adding biometric security to your facility, contact us today.
