INTERVIEW: Iris ID’s Mohammed Murad on Contactless Biometrics in the Age of COVID-19

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INTERVIEW: Iris ID’s Mohammed Murad on Contactless Biometrics in the Age of COVID-19

April 6, 2020

Iris ID is a leading provider of iris recognition technology, and as a result has racked up a number of partners over the years – from Honeywell to GenKey to Integrated Biometrics.  Indeed, that last partnership led to the announcement of a multimodal handheld device supporting both iris and fingerprint scanning earlier this year.  Nevertheless, for an iris recognition specialist, it’s the contactless authentication supported by this particular modality that helps to make it special. 

Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic pushing everyone to reduce physical contact with each other and common surfaces, this contactless technology is more important than ever – and this is the running theme in a new interview between FindBiometrics President Peter O’Neill and Iris ID’s Mohammed Murad, Vice President of Global Sales and Business Development.  Beyond the benefits iris biometrics offers in fighting COVID-19, Murad also delves into other advantages in industrial and healthcare deployments, eliminating buddy-punching, and protecting the privacy of end users.  Read more to hear from the head of a leading provider of contactless providers at a time of intense physical distancing. 

Read the full interview with Mohammed Murad, Vice President of Global Sales and Business Development, Iris ID:

Mohammed Murad, Vice President of Global Sales and Business Development, Iris ID: We’ve learned during this COVID-19 crisis that the virus can be spread through contact with almost any surface.  The virus can survive up to three days on stainless steel and plastic.  That’s why it’s so important organizations offer a hygienic, non-contact identity authentication solution to reduce the chance of spreading the disease now and in the future.  This led to a recent ABI research study that predicted we’ll see a greater demand for non-contact biometrics. 

FB: How do you expect the COVID-19 crisis to affect the attitudes of end users when it comes to biometrics and other types of security? 

Iris ID: We expect to see a major market change as end users shift from a reliance on contact biometrics to solutions based on iris and facial recognition for all identity authentication situations.  End users want a frictionless authentication experience and iris biometrics provides that with accuracy and speed.  It will be a while, if ever, before people accept touching surfaces that may be contaminated.  Cleaning a device after each use is not a very practical or efficient solution.  Iris biometrics can identify an individual from a distance without compromising accuracy, speed or a person’s well-being. ( read more)