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UPEK's Biometric Fingerprint Solution Beats Traditional Passwords to Improve Personal Security; Survey Reveals What Consumers Find Valuable in Switching to Biometric Fingerprint SolutionsBERKELEY, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- Oct. 3, 2005 -- UPEK(R), Inc., the leading supplier of biometric fingerprint security solutions, today announced the results of a recent survey that probes some of the consumer thinking behind the skyrocketing sales of biometric-equipped products ranging from notebook computers to USB drives to portable hard drives: consumers simply find current passwords to be inadequate for protecting their information. As a preferred alternative, consumers are becoming more and more interested in adopting fingerprint-recognition technology as their primary security measure. Of the 100 consumers surveyed, 73 percent believe that passwords are not a secure measure to protect critical online information and data. Further investigation showed that 82 percent of those surveyed expressed their willingness to both abandon passwords and adopt fingerprint recognition technology. In addition, more than half of those surveyed were willing to pay for the added security and peace of mind of a fingerprint biometric solution. "The password crisis is reaching epic proportions," said Alan Kramer, president and CEO of UPEK, Inc. "The survey clearly indicates that people are fed up with keeping track of multiple passwords with inconvenient methods, like writing them on Post-It notes, while trying to protect access to valuable data such as online bank accounts and email. Consumers and businesses are recognizing the inherent shortcomings of passwords and they are looking to fingerprint authentication as the most viable solution." According to a recently published Frost and Sullivan study on the World Non-AFIS market, fingerprint biometrics market revenues will grow from $190.4 million in 2004 to $3 billion in 2011. In the past year, IBM-Lenovo, Sony, NEC CI, SanDisk and LaCie have all turned to UPEK to incorporate UPEK's software and hardware authentication solutions into their leading laptop notebook computers, portable hard drives and USB flash drives to enable secure computing with the swipe of a finger. Other findings in the survey: -- Consumers continue to put their data at risk by placing convenience above security, with nearly half of those surveyed confessing that they do not create secure passwords -- defined as a combination of random letters, numbers symbols and punctuation comprised of at least eight characters -- nor do they ever change their passwords. -- The most popular method of creating passwords? Personal information, with over half of those surveyed using easily retrievable details such as a pet, child or spouse's name. Seventy-two percent of respondents use the same password for all logins. -- Although 82 percent of those surveyed expressed concerns about becoming a victim of identity theft, nearly 40 percent shared their passwords with others. An overwhelming 76 percent have critical information, such as banking information or sensitive data, protected solely by passwords. About the Survey 100 anonymous participants were surveyed on July 13 in San Francisco, Calif. The complete results from the 22-questions survey are available by request through Nicole Colwell at [email protected]. About UPEK UPEK, Inc., the global leader in biometric fingerprint security solutions, offers integrated end-to-end solutions including comprehensive design & integration services to the world's leading consumer and industrial products companies. UPEK solutions enable the strongest fingerprint authentication security available, packaged for high user convenience and rapid integration into existing products and network architectures. UPEK biometric security products enable a wide range of applications including password replacement for PCs and applications, centralized management for corporate network security, secure mobile transactions, protection of portable data, identity verification for government and military applications, and physical access control. UPEK has been pioneering biometric fingerprint technology since 1996 and shipping product in volume since 1999. UPEK is headquartered near Berkeley, California with offices in Prague, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo. All trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. As represented by respondents. |
