Iris Scans Could Be the Next Student ID

Identification cards have served college campuses well over the years, allowing students to do everything from gaining access to buildings to eating in the dining halls to charging purchases in the campus store. Soon, however, advances in technology may make the ID card obsolete.

With fingerprint readers and iris cameras already basic components in smartphones, some colleges and universities are working on ways to put those features to work. Campus stores are already experimenting with low-energy Bluetooth beacons to offer shoppers discounts as they enter. Advances in hand-geometry readers, which identify the shape of a user’s hand, are also on the horizon.

The University of Georgia, Athens, will allow students to enroll in a system that uses iris authentication to enter dining halls and the student center. Georgia Southern University in Statesboro has used iris cameras to control entry into dining halls since 2013 and has found data gained from the technology useful.

“If we have a freshman who’s living on campus and required to have a dining plan, and suddenly we see the student’s not coming in anymore—what’s going on?” said Richard Wynn, director of Eagle Card services at Georgia Southern. “We can actually alert housing staff and let them know we haven’t seen that student in a while and they can actually go check on them.”

Iris authentication could also be used for entry into residence halls, the library, and sports venues, providing the institution an idea of how individual students spend their day. That sort of information would be valuable in university marketing efforts, yet it also brings up privacy concerns.

“These aren’t scanners,” Bryan Varin, executive director of UGA dining services, said of hand-geometry readers and iris cameras. “Both of them are simply taking a picture and ending up with a mathematical equation that grants you entry.”

Consumer Acceptance Pushes Biometric ID

Once the stuff of spy thrillers and futuristic movie sagas, biometrics appear ready to ramp up in the next year as an accepted system for authenticating user identity, according to a report in Mobile Commerce Daily.

One company, Mitek Systems, even goes so far as to predict that biometrics will be incorporated in almost 50% of mobile financial transactions in 2016, thanks to new programs such as Apple’s Touch ID.

“We see a lot of interest in the kill-the-password movement,” said Sarah Clark, Mitek’s vice president of product.

A number of financial institutions have been piloting identity verification systems due to the rise in customers wanting to open accounts through their mobile devices. These customers don’t want to deal with a bricks-and-mortar location and they may not have a secure computer. According to Mitek, 86% of the millennial age group handle financial transactions on a mobile device, usually a smartphone.

At one time people may have been spooked by the idea of using their fingerprints or facial and voice recognition as an ID. Now consumers seem totally comfortable with the concept.

Biometric authentication is likely to spread to other applications, such as point-of-sale systems, campus ID cards, and online test-taking.

Fitbit, Apple Top Wearables Market

Wearable technology continues to grow as a product category, according to a new report from International Data Corp. (IDC). Worldwide shipments increased 197.6%, to 21 million units, in the third quarter of 2015 compared to the same quarter of 2014.

Fitbit is the undisputed leader, with a 22% share of the market. Apple is second with a 18.6% share, thanks to sales of the Apple Watch, according to IDC. Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi finished third ahead of GPS-maker Garmin.

Samsung’s share of the market slipped to sixth behind Chinese vendor XTC, because of a late start in shipping its Gear S2. The “others” category of manufacturers represented a 34.6% share of the worldwide wearables market.

“It’s still anyone’s game at this point,” Ramon Llamas, research manager for wearables and mobile phones at IDC, said in a report for InformationWeek. “The fact that two Chinese vendors can play catch-up rather quickly is perhaps indicative of other companies doing the same. Until that happens, expect the popular brands to have a spot—Fitbit and Apple most ostensibly.”

Biometrics Offer Convenience with a Catch

Colleges and universities are no doubt watching the development of biometrics security with interest. Biometrics might be the remedy for a number of headaches for schools, such as authenticating exam-takers for online programs, dealing with students who frequently lose their campus ID cards, and thwarting professional thieves trying to rip off the bookstore.

Companies are coming out with new systems that scan fingerprints, a face, or an iris, or that match voices to a recorded database. Users don’t need to remember a password or carry a piece of plastic, although some systems work through smartphones.

However, biometrics aren’t foolproof, as NPR’s All Tech Considered noted. Savvy fraudsters could trick a biometric system with a high-resolution photo of a face or a recording of someone’s voice. If that happens, taking care of a hack becomes more difficult.

“Either a password or a biometric can be stolen,” David Cowan of the Bessemer Venture Partners investment firm told NPR. “But only the password can be changed. Once your fingerprint is stolen, it’s stolen forever, and you’re stuck.”

Some suggest biometrics might be helpful only with low-risk security, such as locking down mobile devices to keep snoopy roommates out.