Security to outweigh convenience, IBM study reveals

Biometrics are becoming mainstream. 67% of respondents are comfortable using biometric authentication today, while 87% say they will be comfortable with these technologies in the near future.

Millennials are moving beyond passwords. While three quarters of millennials (respondents between the ages of 20 and 36) are comfortable using biometrics today, less than half are using complex passwords and 41% reuse passwords to access numerous accounts. Older generations showed more care with password creation, but were less inclined to adopt biometrics and multifactor authentication.

Millennials are more likely to enable two-factor authentication in the wake of a breach (32% versus 28% of the general population). They are also more likely to delete an account held by a breached service providers and move to a competing one. 75% of millennials were comfortable using biometrics today, compared to 58% of those over age 55.

While conventional wisdom may hold that consumers value speed over all else, the survey found that consumers ranked security as a higher preference than privacy or convenience for the majority of applications, particularly for money-related applications. The one exception to this was social media apps, where convenience took a slight edge over security, revealing a potential blind spot when it comes to protecting personal data stored on those apps.

IBM Security’s new “Future of Identity Study,” surveyed nearly 4,000 adults around the globe and aims to better understand global and generational consumer preferences around biometrics, passwords and multifactor authentication.