The Commonwealth Bank is taking extra steps to protect its datacentres, by expanding its use of a biometric access control system called Cornerstone to datacentres through NSW and Victoria.

Cornerstone, supplied by Argus Solutions, can use methods such as iris scanning and fingerprint reading to control access to restricted areas.

The company first tested and implemented Cornerstone's iris recognition access control systems in Sydney in 2000, using the technology to manage personnel over a number of datacentres, according to Argus.

Now the bank is hooking up datacentres in NSW and Victoria with the system, linking them to existing infrastructure in Sydney and Melbourne. The bank will be able to manage access at these remote sites from a central location.

A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson declined to provide further detail on the contract, other than to say it was "very small".

The bank's datacentres are not the first use of biometrics at CommBank. Earlier this year the company said it was looking at adding biometrics to its banking services, with a customers' voice potentially used as a secondary signature for authentication.