Thursday, October 14, 2010

Unisys Poll: 63% of credit card users would prefer fingerprint

[Almost] Two-Thirds of Consumers Prefer Credit Card Verification by Fingerprint (EarthTimes.org; UPDATE: broken link removed)
Responding to the question, "Which do you believe is the safest method to prove your credit card is being used by you?" the online poll found that 63 percent of more than 300 respondents preferred fingerprints as the best method for identity verification and authentication as compared to photo identification (20 percent), PIN numbers (13 percent) and handwritten signatures (six percent).

This poll gets at the "compared to what?" question we frequently ask here. It explicitly asks respondents to compare a biometric modality to what techniques/technologies are currently in use and, unsurprisingly, consumers find the status quo wanting.

I also think it's worth noting that the second-preferred choice, Photo ID (20%), is also a biometric. The photo on the ID is the database image and the customer's face is the probe image. The biometric matching algorithm is within the brain of the person making the comparison.

So, 83% of those surveyed believe biometrics serve their information security better than PIN's and signatures.