Biometric Technology: A Brief History (Infographic)

Back in the day, passwords were the most prevalent authentication method used by people. But as time passed by, they have realized its susceptibility to hackers and scammers. Today, people can now enjoy passwordless log-in through biometrics and digital signature authentication.

In 1960, scientists started exploring and identifying the physiological components of acoustic speech and phonic sounds. This prompted the development of voice recognition we are utilizing today.

The first scanners to extract fingerprints were prototyped in 1975 and were funded by the FBI. The National Institute of Science and Technology or NIST worked on the compression and algorithms since the digital storage costs for the scanners were prohibitive.

The work at NIST became the precursor to the development of the M40 algorithm. M40 was the first operational matching algorithm used by the FBI. This algorithm was used to narrow the human search as it produced a significantly smaller set of images, helping trained and specialized human technicians for evaluation.

Developments continued to improve, and by the 1990s, biometric science had taken off. During this time, the National Security Agency or NSA formed the Biometric Consortium, and they funded face recognition algorithms together with the Defense Advanced Research Products Agency or DARPA.  This algorithm has started to be used for commercial markets. Later on, CODIS was created and became the FBI’s forensic DNA database. It was designed to store, search, and retrieve DNA markers digitally.

From then on, advancements did not stop. And today, biometric systems are also incorporated on smartphones. It started when Apple introduced Touch ID on the iPhone 5s. From there, biometrics is no longer just a government tool but can also be utilized by the public. And as we all know, today, almost every smartphone has a biometric system that can be used to access the phone and even confirm online transactions. Digital signatures are also a thing now.

Thanks to all these technological advancements, people can now enjoy logging in a much safer and more efficient way. If you want to know more about this, you can check this blog from LoginID.