BIOMETRICS
The chain of trust Why biometrics are central to secure access control by Vince Graziani, CEO, IDEX Biometrics
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asswords simply aren’t secure enough in today’s digital world. With bots now able to try more than 100 billion password combinations per second, the average eight-character password can be cracked in as little as 12 minutes. Passwords have become the soft underbelly of the corporate network. According to Verizon’s 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, three-in-five (61%) of all company data breaches last year involved
22 | April 2022 | IN SECURITY
stolen password credentials. As work becomes hybrid and digital tools continue to hold an everstronger position in organisations, now is not a time to take chances. Since the launch of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) has had the power to impose a fine on any businesses that falls foul of a data breach of €20m or 4% of annual turnover (whichever is greater). Despite this, cyber-attackers are
increasingly accessing corporate networks using weak, stolen, or otherwise compromised passwords. Traditional physical access to businesses is also much easier than many would care to admit and well within the wheelhouse of a motivated criminal. Key card duplicators that clone traditional RFID access cards have been around for a decade or more. It’s not just in the traditional corporate realm where access to sensitive data is being breached
