SEOUL: Few would bet against biometric authentication going mainstream in the banking and finance sectors in South Korea, but what if users’ biometric and financial information is hacked?

Few would bet against biometric authentication going mainstream in the banking and finance sectors in South Korea this year as customers increasingly find it convenient to use the services simply with their fingerprint, iris or face.

However, concerns also remain over security as serious risks arise if users’ biometric and financial information is hacked.

Biometric verification is a system that allows users to log into banking apps and make transactions through biometric verification without typing in their ID or password. The use has been on the rise among younger consumers familiar with smart devices.

In Korea, handset makers, Samsung, LG and Apple, are offering smartphones to allow users to make banking and financial services through fingerprint, iris and facial recognition in partnership with local banks and card firms.

Some financial organisations go further to allow their customers to verify their identities with palm recognition through automated teller machines or stores.

Banks and financial firms are willing to expand the biometric verification technologies in their services to provide more convenience for users “only if security is further guaranteed,” accord­­ing to a Woori Bank official.

Security should be guaranteed on smartphones and financial organisations, he said, although concerns over the risk still remain in the both sides.

As far as smart devices go, reports of a biometric system being hacked follow every time a new smartphone biometric system is unveiled.

In May, reports said that Samsung Galaxy S8’s iris scanner was fooled by German hackers with dummy eyes, although Samsung said that the hack was unrealistic and impossible in ordinary settings.

In October, a researcher in Vietnam demonstrated how he fooled Apple’s face recognition ID software on its new iPhone X using a mask made with a 3-D printer.

The bigger risk of security, however, lies in financial organisations, experts say.

“If financial organisations are hacked in the process of using users’ biometric information, it will pose serious problem as both biometric and financial information can be stolen,” said Oh Jung-gun, professor of IT and Finance at Konkuk University.

“So the financial organisations should be fully equipped with hacking prevention systems,” he added.—Courtesy: ANN

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2018