Biometric Technology: A Brief History

Today, all organizations and economic agents are increasingly digitizing, particularly financial institutions and banks. Over the last decade, one of the most significant shifts in organizations has been digital transformation, which has caused those who ignore this activity to lose prospects or even disappear.

Companies and organizations are attempting to change and digitize operations that initially appeared tough to automate and remonetize. Specialized businesses, however, have emerged to carry out this duty, reforming and optimizing processes through the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Identity thieves, forgers, and phishers are also standard these days, especially among banks. As a result, enterprises have devoted themselves to technological compliance solutions to guarantee eKYC or electronic Know Your Customer operations with zero tolerance for counterfeiting and related crimes.

Before these processes developed, there was no touch of technology in the biometrics system. Back in the 1800s, detecting criminals was not automated. Measuring an individual’s physical appearance was the traditional method to identify a criminal’s identity. Then, fingerprinting followed the concept to authenticate a culprit and symbolized an individual’s signature for a contract. 

Later on, the concept of identifying an identity went wide. In the 1960s, administrators created facial recognition to assess facial features on pictures and extract valuable feature points. The Federal Bureau of Investigation supported the system by providing funds so the law enforcement could use automated technology, such as fingerprint and facial recognition. 

After facial recognition, the creation of speech recognition happened in the 1980s. It formed a foundation for the bulk of people’s voice command and recognition systems. After the creation of speech recognition, iris became part of the biometrics’ evolution in 1985. The specific blood vessel pattern in the eyes became a suggestion for identifying – in 1994, the first iris algorithm recognition occurred. 

In the 2000s, biometrics were commercially offered and deployed at large-scale events. Because it has become significant in people’s daily lives, it is patent-protected throughout the United States of America and is not only focusing in large corporations or government contexts.

In the previous ten years, biometric technology has evolved considerably. Smartphone manufacturers have combined fingerprint unlock and face recognition technologies for the convenience of use. Passwords are no longer required, thanks to biometric authentication technology.

The digital identity verification solution provided by LoginID and the author would be a simple way for crypto exchanges and digital wallets to prepare for upcoming eKYC requirements. This eKYC portal finds and verifies over 9,000 documents from hundreds of countries, making digital identification verification easier. The solution works well on mobile devices, allowing for easy mobile identity verification.

You may check out LoginID for more information about eKYC.