Year in Review 2016: An Introduction From Don Erickson, CEO, Security Industry Association (SIA)

Posted on January 30, 2017

As evidenced by the FindBiometrics Year in Review, 2016 was a fantastic year for the identity management industry on a global scale. Real deployments of biometric technology across numerous vertical markets came to light, all in the name of strong authentication, better security, and greater ease of use. Beyond the obvious mainstream applications of biometrics, we have seen next generation security brought to enterprises, airports, government buildings, financial institutions and more for both physical and logical access.

As the world around us becomes more connected through new innovations in network infrastructure and the Internet of Things—and as physical and information security further blend together—the Security Industry Association (SIA) continues to lead the industry into this new era wherein cybersecurity and physical security are mentioned in the same breath. As such, in the year ahead, the unification between information and physical security will be the theme of 2017 SIA Standards InteropFest, which we are hosting at ISC West 2017. SIA, as the world’s leading association for security solutions, sees this convergence occurring between physical and information security technologies, and we are dedicated to making this transition work for the businesses we serve. Biometrics technology has long played an important role in both of these security paradigms, and will continue to as the industry continues to evolve.

The big takeaway from this most recent FindBiometrics Year in Review is that biometric technology is maturing. The excitement surrounding multimodal biometrics solutions and the interest in areas of application beyond consumer mobile device access—in enterprise, healthcare and border control—is evidence that biometric technologies are becoming viable security measures on a large scale. But even though reliable biometrics solutions are more accessible and secure than ever before, there is still maturation to come. Liveness detection is an area highlighted in FindBiometrics’ analysis that is of great priority to the industry, as is the importance of public perception and overcoming privacy concerns.

The following Year in Review results and analysis serves as an excellent snapshot of the world of biometrics here, at the outset of 2017. SIA is proud to have a hand in presenting this 14-year industry tradition and looks forward to another 12 months of exciting evolution for the biometrics and identity management industry.

To learn more about SIA, its mission statement, and how to become a member, please visit: http://www.securityindustry.org/