Biometrics is an authentication method which uses the physical features of a user as the basis for verification. Since human physical features can change slowly over time, the template used as a basis for authentication does not look for an exact match every time.
One of the main issues with biometrics is that since they are based on people’s physical features, they cannot be changed like other authentication methods such as passwords. This also means that if fraudsters succeed in getting hold of the databases which hold biometrics data, they could use it to break into systems indefinitely, until those databases are updated in some way or the system cancelled.
*Last updated: 12 October 2017