Biometrics for Privacy Protection

Privacy and biomeric identity management techniques are often discused together. One side of the relationship, however, gets a lot more attention than the other. Biometrics have more potential to protect privacy than to undermine it.

80% of Americans worry about Electronic Health Record privacy (Fierce EMR via @M2SYS)

A major part of the concern involves human error and activity, such as lax access controls and inadequate security measures, SailPoint notes in the report.

"Consumers are right to be concerned about the possible exposure of their very private medical information," Jackie Gilbert, vice president of marketing and co-founder at SailPoint, said in a statement. "As the healthcare industry around the world moves toward digitalizing personal healthcare records, keeping patient information private and secure must be the highest priority. Healthcare organizations need to make sure that they have the proper controls in place to protect patient data; those that don't clearly risk lawsuits, fines, and most importantly, loss of patient trust."

Biometrics for logical access control are more protective of privacy than passwords.