Blockchain Biometrics Chimera for Secure Transactions

Blockchain-based applications are known for the security they offer. The immutable and transparent nature of distributed ledger makes it ideal for maintaining the integrity of transactions and activity logs. As the cryptocurrency technology gains increased adoption in the banking, financial and payments sector, it still has room for further improvements. These improvements come in the form of Biometrics.

Biometric authentication is becoming widespread these days, thanks to mobile phones with fingerprint sensors and inexpensive, portable retina scanners. Like blockchain systems, Biometric authentication based devices have their own advantages. They are probably the most personal form of authentication currently available at the moment. Various payments applications like Apple Pay and other wallets are already making use of it for payment approval, and it may soon replace the concept of One Time Password (OTP) for two-factor authentication (2FA).

A recent blog post on one of the information technology publications paints a clear picture of how a combination of biometrics and blockchain can drastically reduce the risk of fraud in payments industry while complying with existing regulatory frameworks. In the article, the author points out the inefficiencies of conventional push message notifications for consent as there is no personal identifier associated with it. In other words, anyone who has access to someone’s mobile phone or email can conveniently approve payments (spend someone else’s money) over the same or a different device by entering the verification code (OTP) sent by the payments service providers or banking institutions. At the same time, the transaction logs stored in conventional databases gives a skilled person a free hand to manipulate the data for his own benefit.

Biometric verification/authentication makes it almost impossible for fraudsters to impersonate someone else and approve transactions. The current solutions for data storage leave the transaction logs vulnerable to exploits. However, replacing conventional data storage systems with immutable blockchain based data storage solutions will effectively plug the hole, making it virtually impossible to tamper with transaction and activity logs.

The two-layered security feature may as well turn into an industry standard for the payments sector in the near future as mobile payments gain traction across the world.

Ref: InfoWorld | Image: NewsBTC