6 Ways to Secure Smart Homes with Biometrics

A few decades ago, nobody would have imagined that smartphones could pave the way to a smarter world, in which every electronic device will strive to get the “smart” tag with it.

With an ever-increasing number of electronic devices and systems posing to be smart, homes cannot afford to be left behind. A smart home is an approach in which homes are fitted with building automation technology to regulate and control its different aspects, without you needing to supervise anything manually.

Once considered a luxury, smart home security systems are now becoming a necessity to protect homes from intruders and security incidents. Biometric security devices are becoming a part of the smart home ecosystem to make them more efficient.

The good thing with biometric security devices is that a user can leverage multiple modalities in a smart home solution, for example turning off lights with voice commands will require a system to be equipped with voice recognition, or unlocking the door with your face will use facial recognition biometrics. These different modalities-based biometric security devices can be integrated using smart home tech to share data and work together to achieve a common goal – automation and security.

This article sheds light on 6 ways to secure smart homes with biometrics.

Fingerprint Identification/Facial Recognition Powered Access Control

Old habits are hard to break and it is also true when it comes to home security. We are so used to traditional locks and keys that despite understanding the struggle and risks associated with them, we are still not ready to get rid of them.

The good thing is that people have started to put their trust in biometric home security systems. Today, there are door locks in the market that can lock/unlock with fingerprint and facial recognition. Though fingerprint identification powered door locks are more common, some manufacturers have also started including facial recognition as an additional modality in biometric security devices.

When buying biometric door locks, you will have to make sure that they can be integrated with your home security system as there are also standalone biometric locks available in the market, which use biometric but cannot be integrated with smart home security systems.

Facial Recognition Equipped Home Security Cameras

Surveillance cameras need no introduction. They have been around for decades and used as a security measure in private as well as public places. They are still used prominently; in fact, the number of surveillance cameras installed throughout the world has increased dramatically in the past decade.

Home security cameras, as the name suggests, are the surveillance cameras used for implementing home security. In a smart biometric home security system, home security cameras can be a part of the overall home security approach.

The new breed of smart home security cameras is more powerful than the traditional ones. These home security cameras come equipped with biometric facial recognition ability, so they can not only be used to record what is happening but also be configured to take actions (such as raising an alert, etc.) if they recognize an already enrolled candidate on the system.

Biometric Home Security for Digital Devices

Today, smartphones, computers, and smart devices have become household items. These devices may store and process personal and financial information, which is considered sensitive in nature. These devices require digital security means against unauthorized access.

Traditionally, IT systems and devices use PINs, passwords, passcodes, or similar approaches to protect data. Now, however, the way things are moving, these data security approaches have started to lose relevance, both security, and convenience-wise. This is where biometric security comes into the picture.

Now with the rise of connected smart home systems and smart devices, it has become crucial to protect these devices as they can be hacked locally or remotely.  In the time when you can place your order and pay with your voice on smart speakers, user authentication with biometrics becomes highly important. A smart speaker can not provide you a prompt to type a password or scan a fingerprint since your voice is all it understands.

There have been incidents in which pets placed orders on Amazon mimicking their owner’s voice. Such incidents raise questions about the security of smart home devices. However, we are sure that big tech companies backing these devices and technologies understand these concerns and will come up with a solution.

In-Home Access Control

There can be some areas or sections in a home where you would not like certain individuals (such as children, etc.) to enter. For example, now that work form has become a norm, you may want kids to stay out during an important online meeting. This level of selective access control can be achieved with fingerprint identification as well as home security cameras.

Biometrics can also help you achieve selective access control for the areas which can be dangerous for small children such as balconies in high-rise buildings, medicine closets, etc.

Detecting Home Security Incidents in Advance

Biometric security devices can not only help achieve home security from outside threats such as intrusion or trespassing but also from mishaps such as fire. Biometric smart home systems such as Google Nests make use of sensor technology to alert you when there is a possibility of security incidents such as fire, rise in carbon monoxide level, etc.

Google Nest Protect is one of such products in the Google Nest family of biometric security devices, which can detect smoke and carbon monoxide. Since Google Nest products are interconnected, you can get alerts on your smartphone whenever there is an incident.

Biometric Facial Recognition Doorbell

We have had doorbells with a video camera and 2-way conversation ability for a long. However, they are only good when you are home to answer. Hadn’t it been great if you could have this ability and your doorbell could stay connected with you via the internet? Now it is possible to stay connected with smart doorbells, no matter where you are.

That is not it, smart doorbells come equipped with a facial recognition equipped smart camera, if the visitor at your door is already enrolled on your biometric home security system (e.g. a family member, etc.), it will unlock the door, if not, you can expect an alert on your smartphone and respond to it. Isn’t that cool?

Conclusion

Biometrics is on its way to achieving ubiquity in identification, authentication, and access control applications. This technology is not only growing independently but also helping other technologies to automate different applications. Biometric home security is one such application in which biometrics integrates with home automation tech to make homes more efficient, automated, and secure.

Integration of biometrics and home automation technologies is helping tech firms to introduce new products. For example, a decade ago, there was nothing called a smart speaker, but now there they are, ready to answer your questions and follow orders with voice recognition.

Now when big technology firms are backing the home automation tech and coming up with innovative biometric security devices and home security systems, it has started to gain popularity among users. No wonder in a few decades home security systems become as common as smartphones are today.