The adoption of biometric systems to identify people is increasing worldwide, and South Africa is well ahead of many nations that are deploying smart identity cards, says high-technology company HiD Global biometric solutions business development VP Greg Sarrail.

Widespread use and adoption of biometric identification in commercial, industrial and human resource processes and consumer products indicate an approaching tipping point. The HiD Global team believes that biometrics is the most effective way of identifying people and eliminating identity fraud, he adds.

As is common with new technologies, the ecosystem of devices and services that use bio-metric information must be broadly available to drive further adoption and use.

However, once the performance and integrity of the biometrics systems have been verified, the deployment of fingerprint biometric identification is very rapid, he says.

“Generally, a minimum of 70% of machines or systems must include a new technology to drive its adoption. About 90% of autoteller machines (ATMs) in the densely populated areas of Brazil have biometric fingerprint identification systems; deployment and adoption were very rapid, as consumers, once familiarised, began to expect and demand fingerprint identification at ATMs.”

This system also improved security, compared with using a card, chip and personal identification number system. Additional security measures have also been included, such as requiring additional verification of an individual’s finger-print in the case of large transactions, payments made from an ATM or after sudden changes in sums of money requested.

HiD predicts a similarly high rate of biometric-identification deployment at ATMs in South Africa, once the banks and financial institutions have verified the systems in their environments. Biometric-device manufacturers and system developers have also focused on ensuring the interoperability of devices, and biometric and smart-card readers will support the use of smart identity cards and biometric identification.

Further, Sarrail highlights that South Africa is also well ahead of other nations in developing the systems and protocols for a national smart card system, noting that the deployment of such cards is being debated in the UK Parliament.

There is, correctly, significant emphasis on the security of smart identity cards by the Department of Home Affairs. Hence, the cards have been designed in such a way that only devices at Home Affairs sites can write information to the cards, he notes.

Information will include all the details currently contained in identity documents and, although various biometrics will eventually be included, the smart identity cards will initially contain only fingerprint biometrics, Sarrail explains.

The system can perform a live verification of an identity and biometrics with the Home Affairs database and, because the card contains incorruptible data, offline identification can be done using a smart card reader and fingerprint scanner to match live information with data on the card, he says.

Meanwhile, the most significant use of smart identity cards and biometric identification in South Africa will be in the healthcare and civil services, as it will significantly reduce identity fraud. For example, medication distribution can be done wherever a patient is and will not be restricted to one dispensary. Dispensers can check whether a patient has received chronic medication, and fingerprint verification means that it will be dispensed to only that person.

The cards also help to make social grant payments more secure, and recipients can make smaller withdrawals from multiple sites, reducing risks.

“We expect, and are positioning ourselves for, a very high rate of adoption of biometric systems worldwide, ” concludes Sarrail.