What is Biometrics?
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Biometrics, also called «multi-factor authentication», refers to the use of more than one factor to determine the identity of an online user. In short, biometrics is the study of a user’s biological traits and behavior. The best-known biometric technologies are fingerprint and facial recognition. These techniques increase convenience and, as a consequence, facial recognition.
We can differentiate three categories of authentication:.
- Something that is known (e.g., a password).
- Something that is possessed (e.g., a key device).
- Something that is (such as a fingerprint).
Consequently, biometrics is «something that is», and can be established as the replacement for the current SMS sending system with a unique key. From LAWYOU we believe that this replacement could be accelerated due to the criticism to which it has been subjected after its vulnerability was demonstrated.
Is authentication the same as biometric identification?
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When we talk about authentication we mean that the biometric parameter we enter (fingerprint) matches the only valid parameter previously saved. For example, when we unlock our phone with a fingerprint, it will have had to be previously saved. We use biometric authentication unconsciously on a daily basis. For example, when someone greets us on the street we go through our facial sample base to determine whether we know them or not.
However, identification starts from obtaining a parameter that is compared with a database to see if it matches any. A classic example of this is when the police, after a crime, collect the fingerprints of criminals and compare them with the fingerprint database they have, hoping to match one to identify the suspect.
What relevance does it have in the legal field?
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In the previous post, we explained what mobility meant in law firms, highlighting that it was the possibility for lawyers to work from outside the office, thus allowing us to access documents and files of the clients in question in the same way, all with the consequent improvement in efficiency, productivity and quality of service.
This goes hand in hand with biometrics, since this service would guarantee the intervention of the lawyer in any process, being able to access any information. Therefore, it is advisable to implement services to ensure that the lawyer who accesses the documents is the one who has access to that information, through the fingerprint, and other services that serve to provide security to the signature of the documents, through the electronic signature. This reinforces the electronic handwritten signature and corroborates the identity of the signatory.
Biometrics as a solution for mobility
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Due to the numerous attacks that electronic devices are constantly undergoing, solutions to provide security and authentication for these services are of particular importance. Biometrics facilitates access and security of access to the information contained in electronic devices.
What use do we see in LAWYOU?
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The advantages highlighted by all users are the practicality and usability of biometric parameters for users who have not been slow to accept these techniques.
However, it is not all lights. Recently, privacy concerns have begun to surface, particularly with regard to the power of the police to force suspects to unlock their cell phones. This is because police officers have the power to collect the suspect’s fingerprints, so is it equivalent to requesting the fingerprint to unlock the cell phone?
In LAWYOU we seek maximum security in the services that our lawyers offer to their clients and, therefore, we have implemented biometric services so that clients can verify that who signs is the same lawyer who provides the service.
In this law firm we have many professionals who are in charge of providing the client with the greatest possible security and reliability in the contracting of legal services.
Therefore, we believe that, although biometric sensors can currently be fooled, in the future we should not lose sight of this technology or the future of security that is so important in the field of law. For now, we recommend that the most secure option would be to use a system that first requests biometric authentication and then requires some other element for authentication.
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