Biometrics for government agencies, face and voice hit big this week

Here’s a recap of the most popular biometrics industry news articles from BiometricUpdate.com this past week.

Government contracts

There were a significant number of stories relating to government biometric contracts this week, starting with the Department of Defense announcement that it is currently re-assessing and updating its Identity and Access Management strategy to improve its overall network access security without making the authorization process more difficult for authorized users.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Special Operations Command said it is currently testing two rapid DNA readers – IntegenX’s RapidHIT 200 and NetBIO’s DNAscan — in forward locations.

On a global level, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is working with Accenture to deliver a biometric technology system for registering and verifying the identities of displaced individuals around the world, providing refugees with the help they need.

Fingerprint

This week in fingerprint news, Fingerprint Cards (FPC) received an order valued at SEK 230 million (USD$27.96 million) for its touch fingerprint sensors FPC1020, FPC1025, FPC1145, FPC1155 and FPC1035 from an undisclosed module partner.

In fingerprint solution certification news, SecuGen Corporation announced that the Hamster Pro 20 fingerprint reader has been certified IP65.

And finally, an article from earlier this year had a lot of interest this past week. Pharmacy benefit manager MedImpact Healthcare Systems, Inc. announced in March it will use Nok Nok Labs technology to provide FIDO fingerprint authentication for its physician access portal.

Face and voice biometrics

A significant number of stories relating to face and voice biometric solutions surfaced this week, starting with Chinese facial recognition technology startup Face++ securing an additional $25 million for its series B round, bringing the company’s total series B to $47 million.

In a published case study, the International Biometrics & Identification Association (IBIA) found that schools throughout the United States are increasingly using biometric technology for security and efficiency.

FaceBanx partnered with SpeechPro to provide face and voice recognition solutions to FaceBanx’s global telecomm and banking industry customers.

ValidSoft revealed a new customer in ImageWare Systems, which selected ValidSoft’s voice biometrics solution to mark its third commercial customer contract this year.

HYPR Corp. released its Biometric Security Integration Kit, an end-to-end biometric security suite that includes voice analyzers, facial recognition detectors, and fingerprint readers

Switching over to legal news in voice and facial biometrics, Plano, Texas-based 3rd Eye Surveillance and Baltimore-based Discovery Patents filed an infringement lawsuit against the U.S. federal government seeking damages of more than $1 billion for unlawful use of the company’s three video and image surveillance patents, two of which covered voice and facial recognition software.

Other Biometrics News

Integrated visa processing solutions firm TT Services recently made three appointments in an effort to expand its biometric enrolment capability.

Meanwhile, Accenture partnered with banking service Moven to jointly develop next-generation digital banking solutions, while providing real-time behavioral feedback to help customers change their spending habits and save more.

And finally, the International Biometrics & Identification Association (IBIA) has spoken out against the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) decision to exclusively use biographic data solutions in order to expand the PreCheck travel screening program, arguing that biometrics should continue to serve as the procedure’s foundation.

Article Topics

banking  |  biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  Entry/Exit System (EES)  |  fingerprint sensors  |  identity verification  |  mobile security management  |  patents  |  Rapid DNA  |  visas