BioID combines face recognition app with A-Trust mobile ID solution

Face recognition software developer BioID is partnering with qualified trust service provider A-Trust in light of the newly implemented EU regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (eIDAS).

The goal of the eIDAS is to simplify electronic transactions across the EU between citizens, government authorities and companies.

Corresponding solutions, such as A-Trust’s Handy-Signatur mobile identification solution, streamlines the digital identification experience for companies and administration EU-wide by making it more independent and more secure.

By combining A-Trust’s Handy-Signatur and BioID’s biometric face recognition, the user is securely linked to a mobile device, addressing emerging online applications for business and industry.

The combined solution is ideal for transaction authorization — such as eSigning and online payments — and IAM, particularly for e-commerce, banking and insurance, and even in physical access control.

“For us, the partnership with A-Trust was an obvious choice, because they operate at the highest levels of security,” said BioID CEO Ho Chang. “BioID requires the strictest security standards, and naturally we also require this of our partners. A-Trust has the most secure technology available on the European market and has decades of experience in the implementation of the Handy-Signatur in corporate and government segments. This wealth of experience helps to further strengthen our position in the German-speaking market.”

The first practical application of the two secure authentication technologies can be seen in the Handy-Signatur app, which up until now, was missing the human factor as it required the smartphone to be protected with an additional factor (PIN, pattern or fingerprint).

Users of the iOS version of the app can now replace this additional protection by simply looking at the smartphone’s camera.

The BioID facial recognition software features a patented liveness detection feature to provide strong protection against photo and video attacks.

The required two-factor authentication for signatures or for authentication via Handy-Signatur remains for security reasons.

“We are pleased with the strategic cooperation with BioID, in particular because we both share a common goal: security and usability must be equally valued. With a biometric approach we are responding to the needs of our users, who want to navigate the web with minimum barriers and maximum security,” said A-Trust CEO Michael Butz. “The Handy-Signatur app is particularly loved by iPhone users, thus we decided to begin with iOS. An implementation for Android is planned for late 2016.”

Article Topics

BioID  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  mobile identity credentialing