Biometric technologies have become the gold standard for authentication; from unlocking smartphones to securing high-risk facilities, these technologies have transformed how we verify identity. Among the many options available today, including face recognition, retina scanning, fingerprint scanning, and voice recognition, palm vein technology stands out as the solution with the highest accuracy and easiest to use, amongst other benefits.
Key Comparisons:
1. Security: When evaluating authentication technologies, the False Acceptance Rate (FAR) is the gold-standard security indicator, measuring the likelihood of an unauthorized person being mistakenly granted access. Palm vein technology has a best-in-class FAR of 1 in 100 million, making it the most secure biometric option available today. If every human being in the world scanned their palms on a palm vein sensor, only a handful of instances globally would result in a false acceptance, given the False Acceptance Rate (FAR) is 1 in 100 million. In comparison, retina scanning has a FAR of 1 in 1 million, fingerprint scanning stands at 1 in 100,000, voice recognition at 1 in 10,000, and face recognition sees frequent false acceptances with a FAR of 1 in 100. The substantial difference in authentication accuracies underscores palm vein technology’s core value proposition.
2. Hygiene: The pandemic came and promoted the importance of “contactless” interactions. Biometric systems that require traditional physical contact with the sensor, like fingerprint scanners, pose potential hygiene risks. In contrast, palm vein, through near infrared technology, scans palms at a distance of 2 inches (5 cm).
3. Intrusiveness: In the context of biometrics, intrusiveness refers to how much personal and sensitive data is captured by the system. Retina, facial, and voice biometrics collect highly personal and identifiable data, which raises privacy concerns for institutional clients and end-users alike. Palm vein technology captures millions of data points and stores them in encrypted format before transmission; no data entries exist that pair a user’s biometric data with identifying information, purely “1s and 0s.”.
4. Consistency: Aging, injuries, biological changes, exposure to elements (e.g., water, dust), are all drivers of low consistency and inaccuracy of non-palm vein technologies that increase with time. Fingerprints can lose clarity due to scars, changes in skin elasticity, or simply moist hands, making them less reliable over time. Similarly, iris patterns may be unidentifiable if the person is wearing colored lenses or is wearing an eye patch, and facial features and voice characteristics naturally evolve with age, impacting their accuracy over time. Palm vein patterns are change-resistant and ultra-consistent; at the age of five years old, palm vein patterns of each individual are etched in stone, never to change again throughout their lifetime.
5. Ease of Use: User experience plays a significant role in biometric adoption. Fingerprint scanners often require precise finger placement and repeated adjustments to ensure accurate scanning, which can be time-consuming and frustrating. Iris scanners, while accurate, can feel intrusive as users must maintain direct eye contact with the scanner. Facial recognition depends heavily on proper lighting and accessory-free faces, making it less reliable. Voice recognition demands clear speech and often fails when users are unwell or in noisy surroundings. Palm vein technology requires users to hover their hand over a sensor, offering a seamless and quick (<1 second) authentication process.