Infinity CEO says creating a true biometric hash no longer a gimmick

Biometrics and cryptography have long operated mostly in separate domains. This is despite both being components of many security systems, that perform the complimentary functions of identification and data protection. Many companies have tried to bridge these two technologies using various hashing methods, and failed. The difficulties come from the fact that different images are captured from the same biometric due to environmental variations, making it very difficult to achieve capture of the same image, Infinity CEO Alfred Chan explained to Biometric Update in an interview.

Researchers have shown interest in combining biometric and cryptographic technologies for over a decade, with a 2004 paper recognizing both the potential benefit, and the inherent challenges of doing so.

Bridging the gap with biometric cryptography

In order to create some form of a biometric hash, there are solutions that generate a hash using a biometric image, creating an ID, generating a code and then hashing the code. These layers add cost, and are still vulnerable to attacks, Chan says, adding that this process is “not a ‘true biometric hash.’” In addition to being inefficient, the biometric data can still be recreated when using any stored biometric images or templates within the process.

Quantum Crypt

Infinity’s Quantum-Crypt technology is able to generate a ‘true biometric hash’ during the biometric capture and hash generation. That process gives the technology several advantages. It enables the easy verification of the user at the point of transaction without using any biometric information of the person, and allows any enrollment to be easily revoked if data is compromised. Critically, it also provides a method to enhance the security of cloud-based authentication solutions, which are in high demand among many of today’s major and fast-growing industries, such as finance, government, blockchain, Fintech, cryptocurrency and other digital ID securities. Cloud biometric services are forecast to grow at a CAGR of 17 percent through 2024 from $1.2 billion to $2.7 billion, driven by government data-security projects and mobile device usage, so the service delivery model is growing rapidly despite the risk of ‘honeypots’ of sensitive data. Quantum Crypt enables a wide range of such existing biometric applications to be more fully secured.

Infinity has developed several modalities including iris, fingerprints, and 2D face, and the company is now exploring 3D face, according to Chan. Fingerprint solutions are widely distributed and there is currently a major push in the smartcard category where Chan says the company sees growth opportunities in both developed and developing markets.

“Currently, we are creating solutions with a few global fingerprint companies, fingerprint sensor technologies and card manufacturers for smartcards and we are seeing Quantum Crypt performance can be as comparable to traditional fingerprint solution, except the biggest differentiating factor is the enabling technology do not rely on any biometric information,” according to Chan.

The Quantum Crypt platform is designed to enable most physiological biometric systems to generate stable and repeatable biometric code directly from the biometric capture device regardless of the environment, and allow it to be hashed. The company is having success doing that with iris and fingerprint, while delivering the user experience the market is expecting, Chan says. Infinity is also expanding its work on 2D and 3D face systems with the very same core technology it designed for iris and fingerprint. Initial results, Chan says, have been very promising.

“Our vision is to build a platform that enables biometric to do more, and we believe the industry has enough innovation in the ecosystem to drive that pinnacle,” Chan says.

The promise of true biometric hash technology is to meet the security needs of a variety of authentication scenarios without introducing new potential vulnerabilities or risk, while also working with existing workflows and satisfying user experience demands. Advances in both biometrics and cryptography have gradually brought that promise closer to reality, and with the launch of Quantum Crypt, Chan says Infinity is ready to deliver the long-imagined security benefits for a wide range of applications.

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometric data  |  biometrics  |  cloud services  |  cryptography  |  data collection  |  data protection  |  facial recognition  |  fingerprint recognition  |  Infinity Optics Solutions  |  iris recognition