Biometrics

Depends on the reason you are authenticating it and just exactly what "authenticating" means to you.

The main problem is somebody sniffing the network. At least when the traffic is encrypted the attacker now has to unencrypt it. Depending on your encryption this could take minutes or months.

How big of a risk does authenticating over an unencrypted line pose. Depends on what your authenticating to, if its only your youtube account then you will probably dont have much to worry about, if your authenticating with your bank for perhaps a money transfer - then this could lead to problems.

Authorization is for authenticating accuracy to eliminate errors or to restrict access.

authenticating and encryption