Is Your Employee Time Clock a Security Risk? 5 Myths vs. Reality

Track employee working hours is important for any business. When workers clock in for coworkers who aren't there, it can increase your payroll costs and cost you extra. For many businesses, especially smaller businesses who's on a tighter budget, this means spending a lot of extra money.

Time clocks that use fingerprints or face scans offer a great solution for this problem. As many business owners begin to use this technology, some others raise the question: are biometric employee time clocks secure?

In this blog, we'll debunk the five most common myths about biometric time clock safety. Read on, and see if this technology is right for your business.

Myth 1: The time clock stores my employees' actual fingerprints.

Reality: Secure biometric time clocks never store an image of a fingerprint or face.

This is the most critical point to understand. Storing thousands of fingerprint images would be a massive liability. That’s why modern time clocks don’t do it. Instead, they use a process called template creation:

1. Mapping Data Points: The scanner identifies dozens of unique points (minutiae) on a fingerprint and maps the specific distances between them.
2. Creating a Code: An algorithm converts these unique measurements into a secure, encrypted string of numbers. This is the biometric template.
3. Discarding the Image: The original scan is immediately and permanently discarded. All that remains is the secure numerical template.

Think of it this way: the time clock creates a complex mathematical recipe based on the fingerprint. It keeps the recipe, not the ingredients. It’s virtually impossible to reverse-engineer this code back into an actual fingerprint image.

What this means for you: The most sensitive piece of data—the fingerprint image—never sits on a server where it could be stolen.

Myth 2: Hackers can easily intercept and steal this data.

Reality: Data is made useless to outsiders with bank-level encryption.

In today's world, any unencrypted business data is a target. That's why a reputable employee time clock must protect data with strong encryption, both when it's traveling from the clock to the server ("in transit") and when it's stored ("at rest").

The industry standard is AES-256 encryption. This is the same level of security trusted by banks and government agencies to protect classified information.

Simply put: if a hacker steals the data, it's so scrambled that they can't use it. They can't see names or codes. The information is useless without the key.

What this means for you: Encryption is your business's insurance policy against a data breach. It protects not only your employees' privacy but also your company from the legal and financial fallout of a leak.

Myth 3: There are no rules for how my business can use employee data.

Reality: Strict data privacy laws exist, and a compliant clock helps you follow them.

Concerns over employee time clock data privacy have led to strong legislation. As a business owner, you are legally responsible for protecting your employees' information, and the right technology partner makes this simple.

Key regulations include:

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation): This is the world's toughest privacy law. It treats fingerprint and face scans like very private health info. This means you must get a clear "yes" from your employees before you can collect it.

BIPA (Biometric Information Privacy Act): This law from Illinois is now a model for the rest of the country. It says businesses must have a set of written rules to give to their employees. These rules must say what info you collect, how you'll keep it safe, and when you'll get rid of it for good. If you don't follow this, you can face big fines.

A GDPR compliant employee time clock is designed with features to help you meet these requirements, such as clear consent protocols and easy data management tools.

What this means for you: A compliant time clock is a great tool to protect your business from hefty fines and legal battles.

Myth 4: Old-school ID cards and PINs are safer and simpler.

Reality: Traditional methods are less secure and often cost you more money.

Familiarity can create a false sense of security. While cards and PINs seem simple, they expose your business to risks that biometrics solve completely.

• The Financial Drain of Buddy Punching: While it might seem like a small thing, buddy punching directly hurts your business. It simply means that you are paying for time that was never worked. For example, if an employee has a friend clock them in just 15 minutes early a couple of times a week, that alone adds up to over 25 hours of paid, unworked time per year for a single employee. When even a few team members do this, the cost quickly balloons, eating directly into your revenue.
• Constant Administrative Costs: How much time and money do you spend replacing lost ID cards or resetting forgotten passwords? These small costs and interruptions add up. Biometrics eliminate them entirely.

For this exact reason, a machine like the NGTeco Time Clock is so effective for small businesses. It directly solves the costly problem of time theft, and with options like offline time clocks, you can do it with a one-time hardware purchase and absolutely no monthly fees. This allows you to stop that revenue leak without adding a recurring subscription to your budget, making it a tool that pays for itself.

What this means for you: A biometric clock can provide you a clear return by cutting down time theft and administrative waste.

Myth 5: Biometric time clocks are too complicated and invasive.

Reality: Modern time clocks are designed for simplicity and focused use.

As a business owner, you don't have a dedicated IT department or the time to learn complex software. This is a common hesitation, bringing to mind images of difficult installations and confused employees.

But some of today’s biometric time clocks are built specifically for the small business environment—they are essentially plug-and-play.

For example, tools like NGTeco's TC series can be set up in minutes. Employees can be enrolled quickly, and clocking in takes only a few seconds. With these cloud-connected clocks, you can manage all the records and run attendance reports from a straightforward mobile app or web browser, giving you complete control from anywhere.

Regarding the concern of being "invasive," the time clock's function is highly focused. It is designed only to verify a person's identity at the moment of clocking in or out. It does not track location or employee activity at any other time. Its sole purpose is to ensure your time records are accurate.

What this means for you: A modern biometric clock is no more complicated to set up than a new smartphone. It’s a simple, dedicated tool designed to solve a specific business problem without creating new ones.

The 3-Point Security Test for Any Time Clock

Before you invest in any time clock, ask these three questions to verify its security:

1. How is the data protected? Look for a clear statement about AES-256 encryption. If a provider can't explain their encryption standard, walk away.
2. What is your data privacy policy? The provider should have a transparent policy that explains how they help you comply with laws like GDPR and BIPA.
3. Who controls the data? You should have full control to add, manage, and permanently delete employee data at any time.

The Bottom Line

From the analysis above, we see clearly that, worries about fingerprint and face clock security are a thing of the past. New technologies like those used by NGTeco keep your data safe. These time clocks use special codes and never store one single picture of a fingerprint. At the same time, they stop expensive problems like employees clocking in for friends, and you won't have to pay for lost ID cards anymore. Want to switch to a modern time clock? This will be a smart move to protect your money and make work run smoother.

Check out NGTeco's secure time clocks. They're easy to use, and with solutions starting from a single, one-time purchase, you get the accuracy you need to protect your business.