Firstly, the average person has over a hundred online accounts, the vast majority of which require a unique password for authentication purposes. Since just 9% of the population uses a password generator according to our survey, we can safely assume the remainder are using a handful of variants to manage their logins, or, the same password over and over again. This is cybersecurity 101, page one — don’t use the same password, and certainly not for over a hundred logins. 

Part of this is likely “breach fatigue”. The inability to connect the dots between solid cybersecurity hygiene and data breaches is probably getting worse — data breaches are up 38% in Q2, 2021, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. Is it any surprise that consumers have a collective sense of apathy towards robust cybersecurity practices since they are largely powerless to prevent incidents from occurring, even if they are doing the right thing?

That this Achilles heel has not been sunset permanently is a separate discussion topic, but the inability for the industry to move on from passwords speaks to there being few viable alternatives. There’s single sign-on, as per services offered by Apple, Google, and Facebook, but these aren’t ubiquitous, and certainly, consumer trust in these brands with data privacy is a little lacking. Passwords can be and are strengthened by 2FA, but this adds extra friction and inconvenience. So, biometrics should be an eloquent solution to the problem, right? They check off the boxes of both secure AND fast authentication, with a UX that is convenient and requires virtually no training to use. Chances are your current smartphone has a fingerprint reader, so why not use it? 

This avoidance goes beyond digital Luddism - it’s not just an aversion to new technologies. Lack of knowledge and education are limiting biometric adoption — so you’ve taken my fingerprint, now what? What happens to it? Where does it go? Who gets to see it? And, if it’s stolen, what happens then? Do I use another finger? What happens when I run out of fingers? All questions that the wary would probably want to have answered in a clear and concise manner.  

Also, thanks to dystopian sci-fi, there are concerns that a “borrowed” digit or iris could be used to unlock accounts. I’m not sure how many master criminals are likely to take this approach to access TikTok accounts, but as our phones increasingly become receptacles for more valuable information and potential vaults for digital currencies, it’s not, not going to happen either.

Or… is biometric aversion one of the few areas where consumers can make a proactive choice about how and where their information is shared, and are simply exercising their right to opt out?

I spoke with Dr. Margaret Cunningham, Principal Research Scientist at Forcepoint, and an expert in human factors and behavioral psychology, on this topic for The Thesis webinar. She suggested that taking control back is empowering for consumers who generally don’t have a lot of leverage over their digital lives.