Understanding Human Nature
It’s basic human psychology for people to live in what we call the “comfort zone”. By this I mean we feel comfortable into our daily schedules, knowing that there is a routine in our every lives. Theoretically, there is nothing wrong with this, as we know day to day what we need to get done and get accomplished. There is a sense of predicatability, and we are just fine with that. Now while to a degree this is good, there is also something very wrong with this as well. By living in our comfort zone, we get use to doing the same thing day in and day out. We think as long as we can do the best we can here, it is good enough. But by living in our comfort zone, we tend to fail to be our true best-meaning, the ability to have to strive for better results than what we currently perform at.
And not only this, when we are faced with new challenges which are presented to us (not by our own choice), we tend to run away in fear because of the feeling of getting out of our daily routine and something more challenging being thrown at us. And this feeling of being in the comfort zone is also very much true in the world of security, and is perfectly exemplified by a recent market research study conducted by a Biometrics Vendor known as Digital Persona, Inc. The long and the short: Despite the overwhelming acknowledgment of the respondents that fraud and ID theft is a huge concern, a bulk of them are still using the weakest link in the chain-passwords.
Here are the details: “DigitalPersona, Inc., a global provider of strong authentication and access management solutions, today announced the results of a survey which shows more than half of retailers still use passwords for point-of-sale (POS) system login, despite concerns over the sharing and misuse of those passwords. The survey also revealed that of those companies considering a change to new login methods, nearly 70 percent are considering a switch to biometric authentication . . . The 2011 survey of more than 1,100 participants was conducted by NetWorld Alliance, the retail industry's premier publisher of news and information about self-service, digital signage and retail customer experience. Results revealed that over 90 percent of the respondents ranked fraud prevention to be one of the most important aspects when considering sign-in methods. Furthermore, respondents cited eliminating fraudulent overrides and attendance fraud as the most important security concerns facing their business . . . Despite the overwhelming indication that fraud and theft are major business concerns for POS security, it's surprising that over half of businesses still use the least secure method of user authentication” (SOURCE: http://www.findbiometrics.com/industry-news/i/9472/).
My Take
OK, so there you have it. Over 1,000+ respondents were polled (based from the content, I am assuming it is mostly businesses in the retail world), they rank that fraud is a huge concern amongst them, and yet they still use a very poor form of security-the password (over half of the respondents still claim to use passwords as the primary means of login into their POS terminal). To me, this is no surprise, as I have been dealing with Biometrics for a very long time, and this is the same issue I have faced. People acknowledge that it is a great tool to use, but in the end, there is a strong hesitancy to use it. But hey, blame in on the comfort zone.
Now, that we have the problem acknowledged, how do we get people out of this comfort zone? This is a psychological phenomenon which embraces our daily existence, in all parts of it. So, I am going to talk strictly from the perspective of Biometrics. Probably the best way to get people out of passwords and into using Biometrics is actually teaching people in how to use it. And is not just merely teaching which is involved here, but actually showing the benefits and advantages of it, especially how it is superior to passwords. That is the bridge which will take people out of their comfort zone and into the next challenge, which will be getting used to something better, namely Biometrics.
And to business owners especially, they need to be educated into the higher ROI they will be getting using a single sign on solution versus using a password with its enormous administrative overhead. But, there is an advantage here as well. According to the survey, something like 70% of the respondents are considering the use of something else other than passwords. So, as a result, they are not at the epicenter of their comfort zone, rather they are on the edge of it.
So, with a little bit of education from the Biometrics Industry, we can take these people on the edge and bump them up to their next comfort zone, albeit with a few more challenges. Really, it does not take too much work. Just some hand holding. And on this note, what is beyond the comfort zone of Biometrics? Only time will tell, but something very interesting to think about.
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