"The typical corporate user now has to remember between three and five passwords to access business systems and applications, plus many more for private use such as home banking," says Barnett.
According to Aberdeen Group, large organisations spend as much as $350 per employee annually on computer password management as employees often forget their passwords and need to rely on the help desk or IT department to reset them.
According to Barnett: "Given the amount of time, effort and money that is expended on passwords they give back very little. They are an access control mechanism providing poor security, limited proof of identity and carrying no legal validity or possibility of verification."
The solution, he says, is fingerprint recognition biometrics.
Eleven thousand NHS employees are currently using fingerprint technology in over 60 UK hospitals with a further 30,000 remote workers out in the field who are able to access patients' records whilst on the move. Hundreds of NHS patients are also using fingerprint technology in Oxfordshire and Derbyshire to securely obtain access to their own medical records held within their Doctors' surgeries.
Although the NHS is an early adopter of biometric authentication, the banking and retail industry are set to be the next major sectors to use the technology, offering an extra layer of security for customers and employees.
The costs of producing the chips used in the fingerprint reader have recently dropped from £60 in 2001 to £4 in 2003 – making it a more attractive proposition.
Barnett explains:
"Fingerprint technology will allow people to access multiple applications with just the touch of their fingerprint, they don't need to remember multiple passwords or pin numbers, and it's easy and non-obtrusive which iris or face recognition scanners can be.
"People are also accountable for their actions and transactions, no-one but themselves can access their systems without their unique fingerprint, therefore colleagues, friends or perpetrators cannot get onto another person's system while they are not physically present."