A dozen media including Elsevier have started to help blow away the false sense of security generated by the misuse in cyberspace of biometric technology. You will please consider joining quickly as one of the frontrunner media and reporters. *1 Biometrics in Cyber Space - "below-one" factor authentication https://youtu.be/wuhB5vxKYlg *2 Biometric Market Set to Skyrocket to $30Bn http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/biometrics-market-set-to-skyrocket/ *3 Misuse in Cyberspace of Biometrics Discussed on Media http://www.slideshare.net/HitoshiKokumai/discussed-on-elseviers-btt-62502162

1. - Help stop this false sense of security spreading any further -
Biometric authentications are good for physical security, but ruin the security of
password protection and generate a false sense of security in cyber space. More
specifically, deployed with a fallback password against false rejection, they provide the
level of security that is even poorer than a password-only authentication and yet trap
people in a wrong impression that the security is made better than the password-only
authentication.
There is nothing wrong with a biometric product that is operated with a fallback
password when that product is offered as a tool for increasing convenience. However, it
would not be just foolish but unethical and anti-social to make, sell and recommend
such a product as a tool for increasing security, thereby spreading a false sense of
improved security.
With a few minutes to watch this short video (*1), you would certainly have no difficulty
in realizing how the false sense of security has been generated. You might, however,
reckon that this fact may well be very inconvenient to those media and reporters who
have, perhaps unknowingly, lent a hand to spreading this misconception and false sense
of security.
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
This is not an issue of the relative comparison between “good’ and ‘better’, but the
absolute judgment of ‘harmful’ against ‘harmless’. Something must be done before such
critical sectors as medicine, defence and law enforcement get contaminated in a horrible
way.
Furthermore, according to an article “Biometric Market Set to Skyrocket to $30Bn” (*2),
the revenues of biometrics are expected “to reach more than $30 billion by 2021”.
Biometric solutions are used for both physical security including forensic and cyber
security. The budget for physical security might be well spent, but it is not the case for
cyber security.
Assuming that the market for cyber security is no smaller than that for physical
security, the figure of $30Bn tells us that no less than $15Bn would be wasted by 2021
for making negative contributions to cyber security and getting criminals and despotic
regimes delighted. What a waste!! What a folly!! Getting liberated from such a
wasteful fate, the $15Bn could be better spent elsewhere for productive, constructive
and ethical ends.
A dozen media including Elsevier have started to help blow away this false sense of
security generated by the misuse in cyberspace of biometric technology (*3). You will
please consider joining quickly as one of the frontrunner media and reporters.
27th May, 2016
Hitoshi Kokumai

2. *1 Biometrics in Cyber Space - "below-one" factor authentication
https://youtu.be/wuhB5vxKYlg
*2 Biometric Market Set to Skyrocket to $30Bn
http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/biometrics-market-set-to-skyrocket/
*3 Misuse in Cyberspace of Biometrics Discussed on Media
http://www.slideshare.net/HitoshiKokumai/discussed-on-elseviers-btt-62502162