Biometrics

Biometric fingerprint locks are gaining popularity and becoming more common in both the public and corporate sectors. With prices dropping and the locks becoming more reliable, homes across the nation will have these biometric fingerprint locks within the next few years. But should you have a biometric fingerprint lock? Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages to biometric fingerprint locks to help you make your decision.

There are many advantages to biometric fingerprint locks. Perhaps the most obvious advantage to biometric fingerprint locks is the convenience factor. With no keys to keep track of, the biometric fingerprint locks are the height of convenience. No more bumbling for the keys when your arms are full of groceries. And no more worries about children or friends and family lose their spare keys.

Another advantage to biometric fingerprint locks is that they are more secure. These locks are much harder to pick open, and with mechanical, unique keys for backup entry, the criminals will not be able to simply go to the store and buy another deadbolt with the same key to open your front door.

However, there are also disadvantages to the biometric fingerprint locks. As with any new technology, computer hackers and professional thieves are only a step behind. Latex fingerprints can be made by dusting the fingerprint scanner and transferring the fingerprint to the latex. With the earliest models of biometric fingerprint locks, a simple copy of a fingerprint made with a copier was able to open the lock, but the newer models are impervious to these tactics.

More brutal, if the thief wants to enter your home badly enough they could knock you or a member of your family unconscious in order to use your hand for the fingerprint recognition. More technological methods are available to breach the biometric fingerprint locks as well. A computer hacker familiar with the technology of the biometric fingerprint locks can gain access to the memory of the lock and learn the coded numbers to open the lock with a remote device or computer. You see, the fingerprints are stored as a sequence of numbers in the computer, as is all computer data. Knowing the right sequence of numbers to fake the fingerprint can allow an experienced hacker to open the lock.

Although there are many ways that the biometric fingerprint locks can be breached, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Whatever security system you install in your home, there will be a thief somewhere that has the technological ability to breach that security. However, the idea that a professional thief will attempt to break into a typical residential home is fairly ludicrous. The average thief who simply busts in the deadbolt will have more trouble with these biometric fingerprint locks than with the average household locks. This will discourage average thieves and thugs from trying to break into your home.