Authorities and Telcos Turn to Biometrics to Beef Up National Security

The advent of mobile telephony has ushered in an era of unprecedented social and economic growth across the globe. Game-changers such as online banking, eCommerce, and social media owe their very existence to mobile telephony. Yet for all the innumerable benefits of telecommunications, one facet of it continues to plague authorities around the world – mobile phones remain to be the easiest and deadliest way for terrorists to detonate explosives remotely.
In a bid to curb this malicious use of telecommunications, a number of countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia have started requiring their citizens to register their fingerprints before activation of mobile phone SIM cards.
SECURETECH NIGERIA is at the forefront of these efforts to reduce threats to national security.  We have partner with the global leader in biometric technologies that has been providing fingerprint scanners and mobile biometric verification system to several telecom companies.
In Pakistan, ARATEK devices and systems are proving to be critical in helping reduce threats to national security. With just a touch of a finger, ARATEK biometrics mobile terminals allow telecom operators to quickly perform SIM card registrations, eliminating cumbersome paperwork that can delay the process for up to two days.
ARATEK fingerprint terminals are portable and rugged enough to be deployed in remote areas with low or zero infrastructure. Quick and efficient, the process is not disruptive to legitimate users — background check and activation of SIM card are performed in minutes. More importantly, the system prevents SIM cards from being activated by personalities on a terror watchlist, dramatically reducing the likelihood of attacks.
About Aratek
Aratek is a global leader in biometrics and securities industry. We empower governments, law enforcement agencies, banks, retailers and other enterprises to solve their identity management challenges through biometrics. Aratek provides software and hardware products for biometric fingerprint, face, finger vein recognition. Aratek’s products are used for both civil and forensic applications, including border crossings, criminal investigations, national ID programs, voter registration, verification and duplication checking, passport issuance and other national-scale projects.