Facial recognition systems find more commercial use cases while facial authentication is more secure to deploy

We all have used our fingerprints or FaceID to unlock our phones or log into smart devices that accept biometric authentication. Face recognition, authentication form an important component of biometrics and are often confused with their functionalities. While facial recognition is a general topic that includes face identification; face authentication is concerned with one-to-one matching that implies validating a claimed identity based on the image of a face, and either accepting or rejecting the identity claim.

Facial recognition performs a 1:n match against a database of known faces, facial authentication securely checks singly record in the ratio of 1:1 to find an exact match.

Understanding Facial Recognition: Use Cases

The tech behemoth Apple deservedly gets a credit to let facial recognition available to the commoners. However, the role of facial recognition goes way beyond just unlocking phones. Facial Recognition is being adopted to suit a wide range of applications like-

· Missing Persons: Used to find missing children and victims of human trafficking from a database.

· Financial Services: Used for digital payments, account opening and online account access.

· Retail: To identify shoplifters, organized retail criminals or people with a history of fraud.

· Law Enforcement: Assists police officers to zero on individuals in the crime scene from a safe distance.

· Advertising: Enables targeted advertising. For instance, to reach a larger audience Tesco is already planning on install screens at gas stations with built in facial recognition.

· Social Media: Facebook uses face recognition technology in its photo tagging feature.

· Casinos: Facial recognition helps casinos recognize a fraud or a cheater when they enter a casino saving them hefty fines if caught gambling.

· School Safety: Facial recognition surveillance systems can identify, expelled students, drug dealers who are a potential security threat to the school.

Understanding Facial Authentication: Use Cases

Facial authentication is a more secure component of biometrics. The user authenticates with their face as their credential to securely access their online account. To authenticate, the user's selfie is converted to a 3D map which is compared, one-to-one, with a stored biometric template. The process is a success when a proper match, based on an accuracy score, is achieved. Facial Authentication is deployed in several purposes that include-

· Identity Assurance: For one to one match with a government-issued ID against an embedded selfie with a 3D liveness detection that lets enterprises have a much higher level of identity assurance.

· Improves User Experience: Facial authentication when combined with certified anti-spoofing capability with a biometric-based authentication improves the user experience and reduces friction because of its speed and omnichannel support across mobile platforms and webcams.

· Stronger Fraud Detection: Helps companies to confidently assess risk, detect identity theft, account takeover and synthetic fraud to make more informed application-processing decisions.

· Cross-Platform Access: 3D face maps can be created on almost any device with a camera enabling true cross-platform biometric authentication which lets the users enrol using a laptop webcam and authenticate later from a smartphone or tablet. This makes the possibilities endless right from unlocking a car door to performing a secure password reset to accessing one's bank account.

Choosing Facial Authentication Over Facial Recognition

For consumers and businesses alike, facial authentication is a win-win. It is a permission-based application offering increased levels of security to a user while letting them to seamlessly access their accounts or devices. For businesses, facial authentication solutions help ensure more safety and authenticity in their activities. This wonder application lets businesses to leverage the biometric data for future authentication events. A new chapter into the security is written!