By Tarun Wadhwa, Contributor

In some ways, it’s a marvel that even half of consumers bother to lock their phones. You would think the benefits would be obvious enough: by entering a few numbers, you can achieve a basic level of protection from prying eyes.  But according to a recent study, 44% of users said that even this was too much of a hassle – worse, 30% weren’t even worried about mobile security at all.  From 0000 to 9999 there are 10,000 possible combinations of digits, yet in a sample of 3.4 million passwords, over 10% decided that “1234” was their strongest choice. For years now, consumers have been demanding a better way, something more convenient and less time-consuming.  As it turns out, they may have had the answer all along without even knowing it – their body parts can serve as their next password.  Biometric identification, which works by using the unique characteristics of your body to prove who you are, may be the key to a much more effective system. In fact, it is an almost certainty that within the next few years, three biometric options will become standard features in every new phone: a fingerprint scanner built into the screen, facial recognition powered by high-definition cameras, and voice recognition based off a large collection of your vocal samples. To many in the industry, this is not a surprise but an inevitability.  We store an enormous amount of some our most intimate and personal information on cell phones.  Businesses today are constantly struggling with policies regarding bringing devices from home; a study by Symantec showed that mobile device security was the greatest area of concern for organizations around the world.  PIN numbers are better than nothing at all, but nowhere near enough in a world where cell phone theft now makes up a major portion of urban crime, and a missing device means lost company secrets. Ever since Apple purchased Authentec Inc in July of last year, there has been an endless stream of news stories obsessing over whether Apple will include a fingerprint scanner in their next release.  In reality, Apple is one among many players, and whether they include a biometric sensor in the 5S or wait till the 6 is largely irrelevant, the entire mobile industry has been headed this way for years now.  Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus phones include facial recognition already (although, they did not do a great job), accessories that can add a fingerprint scanner to your current phone have proven to be popular, and voice recognition is now available through many different services. What makes this so feasible is that the technologies needed to make these changes are already in place. Facial and voice recognition are just software; they can use the powerful cameras and microphones already in your phone.  And as the next generation of devices are made with better internal components, these systems will only get more powerful and more accurate.  Fingerprint scanners have also matured greatly over the last few years, and at …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest