The Future Of Cybersecurity: Why Biometrics Is A Powerful Tool To Stop Hackers

‘When you authenticate [with biometrics], we know for certain that you are the person that‘s supposed to be authenticating that like just a device or token or password at this point,’ says Kim Biddings, vice president of product at BIO-Key.

Computer passwords as we know them were developed in 1960. As passwords became more vulnerable to hackers, things like multi-factor authentication were added on.

As hackers continue to put cybersecurity in jeopardy, vendors like BIO-key are using biometrics to stay ahead of attackers.

Here’s a look at some of a CRNtv interview with Kim Biddings, vice president of product at BIO-key, who was named one of the 2022 Women of the Channel Awards. She talks about leveraging biometrics to protect against cyberattacks and shares her expertise on recruiting and marketing in the channel.

“When you authenticate [with biometrics], we know for certain that you are the person that‘s supposed to be authenticating that like just a device or token or password at this point,” Biddings said.

“Definitely. Yeah, that high insecurity of- what better way than your fingerprint or something like that, right?”

“Really the constant in all of this is us, right? We’re always behind these things, trying to log in…Enabling people to actually use a person or something about a person to authenticate them is extremely, extremely powerful to prevent those hacking methods and really increase security.”

I kind of want to shift a little bit and talk about you as a recruiter and, taking on or adding on partners and value-added distributors. What would you say are the keys to success when it comes to that field of the channel?

“I would say find a partner more so than vendors… If you aren‘t as expert [in this industry] or don’t have that level of expertise, get somebody like us or partner with you, that really does say, ‘Look, we‘ll help you identify opportunities,’ but then come in and really hold your hand show off the expertise that we’ve built over 20 years, and then that partners not having to learn that from scratch. Right? Because that‘s a huge barrier to entry into this market if you’re trying to go into it alone.”

What advice do you have for others that are in your position, or similar roles in the channel?

“We look for partners that can help support the customer after the fact with services and actual resources, and then help us bring the expertise to the customer as well.”

How would you say having a channel-first mentality gives you leverage to approach partners?

“When we think about developing content, or we think about branding and activities in marketing or enablement, a lot of people think I just need to enable my sales team. We think partner first. We think how do we make our partners more productive? How do we develop revenue together and opportunities together?”