The Future Of Biometrics And Home Video Surveillance

Home burglaries cost an estimated $4.6 billion a year and homeowners are looking for new ways to protect their property. Biometric technologies such as fingerprint identification, iris scanning, and voice recognition are becoming increasingly popular, while home video surveillance still remains a strong deterrent for burglars. All of them are constantly being improved and may soon be integrated for a truly smart home security system. To learn more, checkout the infographic below created by Custom Audio Video, the custom home theater experts.

Burglaries and Safety

Crime is rampant across the country and even homes can no longer be considered safe. The numbers don’t lie. Statistics show that there were over 2 million estimated burglaries in 2010 according to the FBI. That’s a lot of incidents for just a single year with tens of thousands committed every single day. The total losses in property come in at roughly $4.6 billion – a large sum however you look at it. People are losing a great deal of money because of these incidents. The majority of the cases involve forcible entry while property crimes comprise 23.8%.

Some security systems use passwords for an added layer of protection. Only the user is supposed to know the password, which allows them entry into the premises. However, studies show that 3 out of 4 consumers use duplicate passwords. These are unsafe and easily cracked by trained hackers. What makes them doubly vulnerable is that these passwords have not been changed in 5 years or more. This gives malicious individuals ample time to crack the code and push through with their plans. Experts always recommend that people regularly change their passwords and avoid recycling old ones. Using a combination of upper case and lower case letters, as well as number and special characters, also bolsters the strength of the security.

Biometrics

There are other ways to prevent unauthorized access to property. Biometrics, for instance, is emerging as one of the most promising fields in the security industry. This uses technologies that are based on the premise that each individual has unique identifiable attributes, which can be used in authentication. The most common example of this is the fingerprint. We all know that each person has a distinct print and so it is often used in scene of the crime investigations. This has been a practice for well over a century with consistent results. Thanks to computers, identification has become even faster and more reliable than ever before.

Another biometric technology is the iris scan. This uses pulses of light to examine a person’s eyes and compare it to a known baseline. The iris is highly distinctive as well, making this a formidable method of identification. Experiments have shown that the technology is capable of achieving up to 99% accuracy when trying to identify an individual from a crowd. The National Institute of Standards and Technology or NIST is bullish about this piece of tech. It should be noted that the left and right iris will have differences. These make them even better because there is a bigger amount of data to work on.

Other biometric technologies include voice recognition and home video surveillance. Voice recognition can be broken down into two parts. The first is the characterization of the structure of the vocal tract, which is largely quantitative. The second is the behavioral characteristics of the speaker, which can be qualitative, though measurable in most cases. Video surveillance, on the other hand, is becoming more popular thanks to the improvements in technology and the increasingly affordable prices. These are effective deterrents with 60% of burglars indicating that the presence of an alarm would cause them to seek alternative targets. There is no point in taking the risk of being recorded and seen by the police, as there would be damning evidence against them.

Future Prospects

Biometric apps are already making headway but there is still a lot of room for growth. The rise will be rapid if expert predictions will come true. It is estimated that there will be 770 million downloaded biometric applications per year starting in 2019. Much of these will be thanks to the proliferation of smartphones. Estimates have the number of smartphones in the US increasing by 121 million by 2018. These will be much more powerful than the ones we have now which are already behaving like impressive mini computers that can do it all. These future phones should be able to run incredibly complex algorithms with little to no lag.

The use of electronic door locks is also set to rise. These are deemed to be more secure than the traditional lock and key, which can be opened by a knowledgeable burglar with a pin. These electronic locks can be opened by two or more methods to increase robustness. For example, most of them require a key card and a fingerprint to gain access. They may also have Bluetooth technology built inside to allow people to use their mobile phones for access. There are many ways to configure this type of device. The important thing is that there is not than one option to prevent lockouts.

Fingerprint scanning devices are not yet perfect. There are plenty of kinks that need to be ironed out for this technology to truly gain traction. Its incorporation in many smartphones today is a step in the right direction. This will force the industry to study the manner and develop better algorithms for greater accuracy and faster identification. Current methods are known to be slow and unreliable at times, which make them frustrating to use. However, consumers are seeing the potential of this security measure so it is likely here to stay. It will expand in the number of applications and make its way to more homes.

The Connected Home

The improvement in smart technologies have also brought about increased demand for residential security products. The smart home market is expected to grow by $58 billion in the year 2020 driven by advancements and affordable pricing. The “Connected Home” is coming. Different technologies can be integrated in such a way as to create a formidable shield against any attempt at burglary. Digital door locks can be connected with social media to send private alerts for unauthorized entries. Light switches and sensors can be turned on remotely using smartphones. The possibilities are endless.