all-in-one privacy solution":["Proton Unlimited è una soluzione completa per la privacy"],"Black Friday":["Black Friday"],"No ads. Privacy by default.":["Niente pubblicità. La prima regola è la privacy."],"People before profits":["Le persone prima dei profitti"],"Security through transparency":["Più sicurezza grazie alla trasparenza"],"The best Proton Mail ${ BLACK_FRIDAY } deals":["Le migliori offerte di Proton Mail per il ${ BLACK_FRIDAY }"],"The world’s only community- supported email service":["L'unico servizio di posta elettronica al mondo supportato dalla community"]},"specialoffer:limited":{"${ hours } hour":["${ hours } ora","${ hours } ore"],"${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } and ${ secondsLeft } left":["Restano ${ hoursLeft }, ${ minutesLeft } e ${ secondsLeft }"],"${ minutes } minute":["${ minutes } minuto","${ minutes } minuti"],"${ seconds } second":["${ seconds } secondo","${ seconds } secondi"],"Limited time offer":["Offerta a tempo limitato"]},"specialoffer:listitem":{"Create multiple addresses":["Crea indirizzi multipli"],"Hide-my-email aliases":["Alias hide-my-email"],"Quickly unsubscribe from newsletters":["Annulla rapidamente l'iscrizione alle newsletter"],"Use your own domain name":["Utilizza il tuo nome di dominio"]},"specialoffer:logos":{"As featured in":["Ne hanno parlato"]},"specialoffer:metadescription":{"Get an encrypted email that protects your privacy":["Scegli un'email cifrata per proteggere la tua privacy"]},"specialoffer:metatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday Sale - Up to 40% off":["Offerta Black Friday di Proton Mail - sconti fino al 40%"]},"specialoffer:newmetadescription":{"Get up to 40% off Proton Mail subscriptions this Black Friday. Find great deals on our secure end-to-end encrypted email plans.":["Per questo Black Friday ti offriamo fino al 40% di sconto sugli abbonamenti a Proton Mail. Scopri le straordinarie offerte sui piani di abbonamento alla nostra email dotata di crittografia end-to-end."]},"specialoffer:newmetatitle":{"Proton Mail Black Friday sale | Up to 40% off secure email":["Offerta di Proton Mail per il Black Friday | Fino al 40% di sconto sulla nostra email sicura"]},"specialoffer:note":{"* Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["* Addebito di ${ TOTAL_SUM } per il primo anno"],"*Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["*Addebito di ${ TOTAL_SUM } per i primi 2 anni"],"30-day money-back guarantee":["Garanzia soddisfatti o rimborsati di 30 giorni"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first 2 years":["Addebito di ${ TOTAL_SUM } per i primi 2 anni"],"Billed at ${ TOTAL_SUM } for the first year":["Addebito di ${ TOTAL_SUM } per il primo anno"],"You save ${ SAVE_SUM }":["Risparmi ${ SAVE_SUM }"]},"specialoffer:off":{"${ PERCENT_OFF } off":["−${ PERCENT_OFF }"]},"specialoffer:testimonial":{"I love my ProtonMail":["Adoro ProtonMail"],"My favorite email service":["Il mio servizio email preferito"],"Thanks Proton for keeping us all safe in the complicated internet universe.":["Grazie Proton perché ci proteggi nell'universo complicato di internet."],"You get what you pay for. In the case of big tech, if you pay nothing, you get used. I quit using Gmail and switched to @ProtonMail":["Ottieni quello per cui hai pagato. Nel caso di big tech, se non paghi niente, vieni usato. Ho smesso di usare Gmail e sono passata a @ProtonMail"]},"specialoffer:time":{"Days":["Giorni"],"Hours":["Ore"],"Min":["Min"]},"specialoffer:title":{"And much more":["E molto altro"],"Make your inbox yours":["Personalizza la tua casella di posta"],"Safe from trackers":["Protezione dai tracker"],"Stay organized":["Mantieni tutto organizzato"],"Black Friday email deals":["Offerte email del Black Friday"],"Don’t just take our word for it":["Non lo diciamo solo noi"],"Our story":["La nostra storia"],"Transfer your data from Google in one click":["Trasferisci i tuoi dati da Google con un solo clic"]},"specialoffer:tooltip":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES }+ countries, connect up to 10 devices, access worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accedi a contenuti bloccati e naviga in modalità privata. Include oltre ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS } server in più di ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES } Paesi, possibilità di connettere fino a 10 dispositivi, accesso a servizi di streaming in tutto il mondo, anti-malware, ad-blocker e altro ancora."],"Easily share your calendar with your family, friends or colleagues, and view external calendars.":["Condividi facilmente il tuo calendario con familiari, amici o colleghi e visualizza calendari esterni."],"Includes support for 1 custom email domain, 10 email addresses, 10 hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Include il supporto per 1 dominio email personalizzato, 10 indirizzi email, 10 alias hide-my-email, condivisione del calendario e altro ancora."],"Includes support for 3 custom email domains, 15 email addresses, unlimited hide-my-email aliases, calendar sharing, and more.":["Include il supporto per 3 domini email personalizzati, 15 indirizzi email, alias hide-my-email illimitati, condivisione del calendario e altro ancora."],"Manage up to 25 calendars, mobile apps, secured with end-to-end encryption, 1-click calendar import from Google, and more.":["Gestisci fino a 25 calendari, app per dispositivi mobili, protezione con la crittografia end-to-end, importazione del calendario da Google in un solo clic e altro ancora."]},"Status banner":{"Learn more":["Scopri di più"],"Please note that at the moment we are experiencing issues with the ${ issues[0] } service.":["Attenzione: stiamo riscontrando dei problemi con il servizio di ${ issues[0] }"],"We are experiencing issues with one or more services at the moment.":["Stiamo riscontrando dei problemi con uno o più servizi."]},"Status Banner":{"At the moment we are experiencing issues with the Proton VPN service":["Al momento abbiamo dei problemi con il servizio di Proton VPN"],"Learn more":["Scopri di più"]},"steps":{"Step":["Passaggio"]},"suggestions":{"Suggestions":["Suggerimenti"]},"Support":{"Sub category":["Sottocategoria","Sottocategorie"]},"Support article":{"${ readingTime } min":["${ readingTime } minuto","${ readingTime } minuti"],"Category":["Categoria","Categorie"],"Didn’t find what you were looking for?":["Non hai trovato quello che cercavi?"],"General contact":["Contatti generali"],"Get help":["Ottieni supporto"],"Legal contact":["Contatti legali"],"Media contact":["Contatti per la stampa"],"Partnerships contact":["Contatti per collaborazioni"],"Reading":["Lettura"]},"Support troubleshooting":{"App version":["Versione dell'app"],"Browser":["Browser"],"Check if this helps":["Verifica se questo ti è utile"],"Choose a product":["Scegli un prodotto"],"Did this solve your issue?":["Ha risolto il tuo problema?"],"Faster assistance is just a few clicks away":["Ottieni assistenza più velocemente con pochi clic"],"How can we help?":["Come possiamo aiutarti?"],"No, contact support":["No, contatta il supporto"],"Please fill out one field after another":["Compila un campo dopo l'altro"],"Please make your selections":["Fai la tua selezione"],"Proton account":["Account Proton"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Thank you for your feedback":["Grazie per il feedback"],"What can we help with?":["In cosa possiamo esserti di aiuto?"],"Yes":["Sì"]},"support_modal_search_query":{"Search query":["Query di ricerca"]},"support_search_button":{"Search":["Cerca"]},"support_search_i_am_looking_for":{"I'm looking for":["Sto cercando"]},"SupportForm":{"For a faster resolution, please report the issue from the Bridge app: Help > Report a problem.":["Per una risoluzione più rapida, segnala il problema dall'app Bridge: Aiuto > Segnala un problema."],"Information":["Informazioni"]},"SupportForm:option":{"Account Security":["Sicurezza dell'account"],"Contacts":["Contatti"],"Custom email domain":["Dominio email personalizzato"],"Email delivery and Spam":["Consegna delle email e spam"],"Encryption":["Crittografia"],"Login and password":["Login e password"],"Merge aliases and accounts":["Unione di alias e account"],"Migrate to Proton":["Migrazione a Proton"],"Notifications":["Notifiche"],"Other":["Altro"],"Plans and billing":["Piani e fatturazione"],"Proton for Business":["Proton for Business"],"Sign up":["Iscrizione"],"Storage":["Archiviazione"],"Users, addresses, and identities":["Utenti, indirizzi e identità"]},"SupportForm:optionIntro":{"Select a topic":["Seleziona un argomento"]},"swiss_baseed_feature":{"Swiss based":["Con sede in Svizzera"]},"Testimonial":{"Awards":["Premi"],"Customers":["Clienti"],"Featured":["In evidenza"],"Go to testimonial source":["Vai alle testimonianze"],"Open source of award":["Apri la fonte del premio"],"Open source of quote":["Apri la fonte della citazione"],"Reviews":["Recensioni"],"Videos":["Video"],"Watch on TikTok":["Guarda su TikTok"],"Watch on YouTube":["Guarda su YouTube"]},"TestimonialCategory":{"Awards":["Premi"],"Customers":["Clienti"],"Featured":["In evidenza"],"Media":["Media"],"Reviews":["Recensioni"],"Videos":["Video"]},"Text":{"If you need help, check out our ${ supportLink }.":["Se ti serve assistenza dai un’occhiata alla nostra ${ supportLink }."],"The page you’re looking for might have been removed, or it could be an\nold link.":["La pagina che stai cercando potrebbe essere stata rimossa, o il link potrebbe essere vecchio."]},"Title":{"On this page":["In questa pagina"],"Related articles":["Articoli correlati"],"Share ${ thisPage }":["Condividi ${ thisPage }"],"Switch to Proton Pass - Contact us":["Passare a Proton Pass - Contattaci"],"Thank you!":["Grazie"],"this page":["questa pagina"]},"Tooltip":{"More information":["Ulteriori informazioni"]},"tooltip_vpn":{"Access blocked content and browse privately. Includes ${ TOTAL_VPN_SERVERS }+ servers in ${ TOTAL_VPN_COUNTRIES }+ countries, highest VPN speed, ${ TOTAL_VPN_CONNECTIONS } VPN connections, worldwide streaming services, malware and ad-blocker, and more.":["Accedi a contenuti bloccati e naviga in modalità privata. 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The pros and cons of biometric authentication | Proton
Biometric authentication is a growing part of the tech landscape — it’s in our schools, offices, airports, government buildings, and more recently, in our smartphones. Apple’s introduction of Touch ID in 2013 has paved the way for fingerprint-, face-, and iris-recognition technology to leave the almost exclusive domain of law enforcement and emerge into the mainstream as a way to authenticate your identity and access accounts and physical spaces.
But while biometric data and its applications have taken the fast lane to success, their use also raises new issues around security and privacy that must be considered and managed. There are major risks that are unique to biometric authentication that aren’t present with other forms of authentication, such as passwords. Namely, you can always change your password if it leaks — but what if your password is your face? In this article, we’ll talk about how to understand such risks and mitigate them.
Biometry refers to the measurement and analysis of an individual’s physical traits, such as fingerprints, iris patterns, or even the way a person walks (as in “gait recognition”). This information is digitized by converting the physical characteristics (the ridges on a fingerprint, for example) into biometric templates comprised of data points based on specific formulas.
When a device or service uses biometry for authentication, the primary purpose is to verify that a person is who they claim to be by comparing their biometric data with previously collected and stored data.
There are several ways in which biometric data may be stored and processed, such as through database servers, encrypted tokens, or physical tokens. Typically smartphones use on-device storage of biometric templates, which ensures authentication occurs without any data being sent to a server. Thus, the biometric data remains secure as long as the device itself is not compromised.
Benefits of using biometric authentication
There are good reasons biometric authentication has expanded so rapidly. Here are the main ones:
Simplicity and convenience for the user
The overwhelming simplicity, at least from a consumer perspective, is a significant factor in the growing popularity of biometric authentication. After all, it’s much easier to place your finger on a scanner than to type in a 20-character password.
Higher authenticity
Biometry may provide greater levels of authenticity for users prone to weak passwords and PINs, which may be common to multiple users or easily shared. Fingerprints and iris patterns, however, are difficult to share or replicate (but not impossible). Unique identifiers are a necessary element for many applications, such as payments or access to secure spaces, making biometry the preferred choice.
Affordability
Technological advances have brought down the cost of components so that biometric authentication is now possible in a wide range of implementations. Consider Delta Air Lines, which offers an optional biometric check-in process to their fliers from curb to gate, saving passengers nine minutes per flight(nuova finestra).
Shoulder surfing
Hackers can try to break into your device or accounts by watching you as you enter your PIN code or unlock pattern. This is known as a shoulder surfing attack. Biometric authentication can help you be more resistant to this type of attack.
It is well established that organizations that collect and store users’ personal data are under constant threat from hackers. Even as Delta collects biometric information about its passengers, the airline sector has been plagued(nuova finestra) by data breaches(nuova finestra).
Because biometric data is irreplaceable, corporations need to treat it with the utmost caution. If one’s password or PIN were to be compromised, there is always the possibility of resetting it. But the same cannot be said for one’s face, fingerprints, or irises.
Tracking and permanent digital records
Biometric authentication is still in its early stages, yet it already poses serious questions about privacy. When biometrics are stored server-side, particularly in jurisdictions subject to surveillance(nuova finestra) and secret warrants(nuova finestra), you risk leaving a permanent digital record or potential tracking by government authorities.
For instance, it is well known that during the recent Hong Kong protests, the government used facial recognition to track protesters(nuova finestra). As CCTV proliferates, your biometric data can become a permanent digital tag that authorities can use to identify and track you for the rest of your life.
False positives
Biometric authentication methods often rely on partial information — i.e., a finite number of data points — to authenticate your identity. For example, in 2018, a team from New York University trained an AI neural network to fraudulently crack fingerprint authentication(nuova finestra) at a success rate of 20%. They relied on the fact that most fingerprint scanners only scan a portion of the finger. Common elements can be used to fool them into mistaken authentication in a manner similar to a dictionary attack(nuova finestra).
Not all facial recognition models are created equal, and even the best of them aren’t perfect. For example, the OnePlus 6 face unlock feature relies on the front camera and isn’t as secure(nuova finestra) as the Oppo Find X or Huawei Mate 20 Pro, which use 3D Infrared depth mapping(nuova finestra).
Because biometric authentication is inherently risky, Proton does not use it for account login. To access your Proton account, you must provide your password.
We also recommend turning on two-factor authentication (2FA), which requires you to enter an additional piece of information — a time-based, one-time password generated by an app on a device you own — before accessing your account. With 2FA enabled, even if your password is compromised, a hacker cannot log in to your account without also gaining access to your device.
Once you log in to your account, you may choose to add an extra layer of protection to your Proton Mail app in your app settings. In both iOS and Android, you can choose to lock the app and require a PIN code or biometric authentication after the app has been unused for a given amount of time. This provides both extra security along with convenience in a relatively low-risk scenario (i.e., you already have an active session on your device). Authentication takes place locally, so no biometric data is ever sent to our servers.
In Proton Mail for iOS, enabling Face ID, Touch ID, or PIN protection also turns on the AppKey Protection System(nuova finestra), which is an extra layer of encryption for your Proton Mail data, defending against certain kinds of malware and forensic attacks.
Of course, the security decisions you make depend on your threat model. Using biometric authentication is not as safe as using a passcode or logging off every time. But these solutions are worse from a usability perspective. Users with heightened threat models should also consider the implications of enabling biometric authentication when crossing borders or engaging with law enforcement.
If any device or service asks for your biometric information, check to ensure your data is stored locally on the device and not on a cloud-based server or transmitted over the network.
As a standard practice, avoid clicking on suspicious links or installing unverified third-party apps on your device.
Our mission is to build a safer Internet, and being informed about how your data is protected can empower you to make better decisions about the services you use. If you have any questions or comments about biometric authentication, feel free to join the discussion on our social media channels.
Proton Mail and Proton VPN are funded by community contributions. If you would like to support our development efforts, you can upgrade to a paid plan(nuova finestra). Thank you for your support.