How companies track your habits, movements

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - Biometric behavioral data is the fancy term for a complicated data collection method that a lot of big companies are adopting.

Basically, they are capturing all our habits to make one big fingerprint of who we are—how we hold our phone, the cadence with which we type, how hard we press on the home button to fire up the phone, and more.

Paul Wagenseil, who covers cybersecurity for Tom's Guide, said we're even being measured up by our movements.

Our profile isn't just based on our smartphone use. How we type on our laptop or desktop is now part of our biometric behavioral data. Banks and retailers, which have built profiles on hundreds of millions of customers, are using the data to protect against identity theft.

The impressive feature of this new tech is also the most alarming part of the feature. These personal traits are captured without the individual ever signing up for it or in many cases even knowing about it.

Users appreciate the good that comes with the tech but worry what can happen if the data falls into the wrong hands. Whatever we know about biometric behavioral data, you can bet those engaged in identity theft probably know a lot more.