Admit it. You never thought you’d see such technological advances like retina scanning or fingerprint security in real life. While we’ve seen such items in Hollywood movies and on TV, now as businesses and transportation and healthcare providers look to bolster their data center security and staff protective services we’re seeing brand new technologies embrace these, mostly foolproof, methods of identification. In the May 2014 edition of the Genomics Law Report, Biometric security is recognized as the one topic at the forefront of security experts’ strategizing sessions for the upcoming fiscal year.

Biometric data can be split into two general factions. Behavioral biometrics – the traditional hand-writing and voice-recognition disciplines we’ve all become accustomed to – and physiological biometrics that include retina, fingerprint, facial structure and DNA analysis. Both data streams are used for identification purposes but they also raise previously unknown concerns about privacy and information protection. Because the technology is growing faster than protective laws can be passed, security software providers are doing their best to chart the unknown regulatory waters of their industry. Several states around the nation have enacted various laws regulating how biometric technology can be used but the U.S. Congress, to this point, has failed to pass any measures to guide security staff and personnel on what they can use safely and legally. as things stand now, there is no federal law that inhibits or prevents companies or private concerns from using, disclosing or holding biometric data.

Wired.com/UK said, recently, that while the European Union is forging ahead with stronger and stronger protective regulations, the new technology has the potential to eat away at those guidelines Europeans have long thought were a birthright. Yet with all the concern about personal privacy protection, business who are looking to use the technology to protect their server cabinets or enhance their data center security face an uncertain playing field in regards to security compliance.

How does a responsible company comply with changing regulations?
The healthcare industry, along with the federal HIPPA regulations has, perhaps, the most daunting task of keeping up with regulations that seemingly change with the wind. Hospitals and providers have reams of paper-driven records that must be transcribed to electronic data by federal mandate and that has IT security staff striving to comply with storage regulations that won’t affect patients or the providers’ proprietary information. according to Biometricsdirect.com, simple password management for every single healthcare employee in the U.S. currently costs upwards of $300 annually.  Biometric fingerprint or retina scanning can lower that cost for the provider but secure storage is an infrastructure problem that is so new there is no cost projection or estimate that healthcare operations can use to determine how the new technology affects their bottom line.

Cutting-edge companies like Digitus Biometrics in Savannah, Georgia are developing brand new software designed to ensure that companies, healthcare providers and governmental agencies can use this technology to protect their physical and intellectual assets and not have issues with privacy protection.

Even though there aren’t as many regulations in the U.S. as in the EU, penalties for non-compliance with privacy issues are stiff and likely to become even tougher as the years go by and the technology advances.

If you’re looking to stay compliant, click here to find out more information