Biometrics

What’s yo name? What’s yo numba? What’s yo biometrics?

But really...what are biometrics? They’re metrics, i.e. things you measure, that pertain to the body, or living human organisms (like, “biology,” the study of life). Biometrics typically refer to things that can identify specific individuals. Think: fingerprints, DNA, and facial recognition.

In the new era of rapidly growing tech, biometrics are increasingly used to prevent hackers from stealing your stuff. For instance, those new, fancy fingerprint readers on phones (and many laptops) are a biometric. We’ve been hearing about a lot of data breaches lately at big companies...think: Home Depot, Target, Yahoo, and the biggest whammy of them all: the little-known-before-the-incident Equifax (the credit reporting agency that pretty much everyone’s sensitive credit info is on...got hacked.).

It’s no wonder big companies with deep pockets (especially those fat cats at the banks) are looking into and investing in biometric security. While fingerprints are the norm today, things like retina scanning, facial recognition, and even heartbeat detection are on the way. Talk about evolution.