Here’s some proof.  In 2008, Security World News reported on several biometric breakthroughs. One report was from California where a hospital became the third healthcare facility in the U.S. to use a high-tech scan of the veins in the palm of your hand to identify patients and access medical records, making medical cards and even paper records a thing of the past.  Then there is the growing popularity of the Clear Card which is now used at 21 U.S. airports.  The Clear Card contains biometric information of the cardholder’s iris and fingerprint.  Once scanned, cardholders are able to pass through shorter lines at airport security check-ins.  And finally, in Germany 120 supermarkets are using biometrics through fingerprints to identify consumer account information and make payment. It’s evident there is certainly growth and success in biometric technology, but along with it is skepticism?    

          While experts say biometric identity theft is much more challenging than forging a signature, illegally obtaining and copying archived biometrical prints, which can then be used to produce artificial models, is still possible. For instance, stealing a person’s finger or vein impression and molding plastic to scan as the real thing. 

          Still, biometric suppliers are finding ways to combat fraud and illegal impersonations. 

One way is to combine a heat sensor to a fingerprint or palm scanner that confirms an actual human is interacting.  Another technique is to use multimodal biometrics (using more than one biometric system simultaneously to confirm identification). Hanseok Ko, Director of Seoul’s Korea University’s Intelligent Signal Processing Lab, tells CNN,