EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Anne Bouverot, CEO of Morpho, believes biometric identification is better than passwords for mobile devices, but argues it is not a zero-sum game.

Inputting a sequence of digits, or a nickname from school, is wearing for users, which is why the advent of fingerprint technology on devices by Apple, Samsung, Huawei and others was a big moment, Bouverot argued in a recent interview with Mobile World Live.

“We are all frustrated by passwords. Even when they are very simple – and the most common is 1-2-3-4-5-6 and that’s not very secure – you still have to type in six digits and that’s quite cumbersome,” she said.

French security firm Morpho is a backer of biometrics, which is gathering support in the industry.  Of course, there have also been well-documented hacks of biometric-based systems too, where they have been persuaded to wrongly verify a user’s identity.

Actually, Bouverot said the preferred approach is so-called multi-factor authentication which uses a number of techniques to secure a device.

“It’s how you can ensure a person you can only identify through facial recognition or fingerprint is the right person to access the service, so you need another element of security which can be the physical location of the device, a password and a number of other things,” said Bouverot.

Watch the full video here.