Biometrics are usernames not passwords. Biometrics should never be used on the sole authentication method they should only be used in conjunction with something else.
That such a meaningless slogan. Passwords and biometrics have different pros and cons, but they are the same in that they increase security.
Biometrics should never be used on the sole authentication method
* Biometrics is always better than no security.
* Biometrics done well is certainly better than a 4-digit PIN.
* Biometrics on an iDevice is in fact always used with something else, which is device itself: Touch/FaceID on an iPhone can only be used to access that particular iPhone. Ie. if you manage to steal my fingerprint, you can only use it to access the devices that I have set up to use my fingerprint. This means that my fingerprint alone is not of any value, unless you can also gain physical access to my phone. Compare this with a password which, if stolen, allows attackers on the other side of the globe to access to my accounts.
It is not a meaningless slogan, if Biometrics give the wider public a FALSE sense of security in that companies like Apple pitch them in unrealistic and inaccurate ways in their marketing that gives the average Joe the false idea that bio metrics are more secure than they really are, and secure more data that it really does.
>Biometrics is always better than no security.
That not only a pointless statement, but a False Dilemma Fallacy as well
>Biometrics done well is certainly better than a 4-digit PIN.
Done well is the key part, and again that is a False Dilemma Fallacy as you assume the choice is between a 4 digit pin and Biometrics, it is not
> if you manage to steal my fingerprint, you can only use it to access the devices that I have set up to use my fingerprint. This means that my fingerprint alone is not of any value, unless you can also gain physical access to my phone. Compare this with a password which, if stolen, allows attackers on the other side of the globe to access to my accounts.
it is funny you mention that because often time I see people set VERY insecure passwords because they believe that thei biometrics protects their password. So they set a insecure password "They will never use or need" because they relay biometrics and believe it provides all the security they need not just the security of the device, but since they only access their data from that device they are lulled in a false sense of security that the biometrics are protecting not only their device but ALL OF THEIR ACCOUNTS
Oh, please! There is an abundance of evidence to show that the wider public is completely uninterested in security to the degree that a majority will disable security features altogether if they are inconvenient to use in the slightest. People don’t use biometric authentication because they are misled to believe that it’s more secure than other methods of security. They use it because it’s the most convenient method.
That not only a pointless statement, but a False Dilemma Fallacy as well
In principle perhaps, but not in practice. Before biometric authentication became widespread, it was completely normal not to protect your phone at all. And when it was protected, it was almost always with a 4-digit PIN that you only had to enter after some amount of time had passed since you last unlocked the phone.
often time I see people set VERY insecure passwords because they believe that thei biometrics protects their password
That’s a nice anecdote which may be a completely accurate account of what someone told you. Or not. I find it hard to believe with no evidence that such a specific misunderstanding should be widespread. I do find it very believable that people use bad passwords, because people have always used bad passwords. As long as we’re exchanging anecdotes, I can tell you that I personally changed from a 4-digit PIN to a longer password when I got Touch ID, because it wasn’t as inconvenient when I only had to type it in once in a while as opposed to every time I unlock my phone.
Biometrics are biometrics. They're distinct from username and passwords.
They can be used for low effort access control, the same way that most locks are easy to pick or bypass but are still useful to block crimes of opportunity.