Biometrics play starring role in ambitious plans for Mastercard and FIDO Alliance

A new specification for biometric payment cards has been met by Thales and G+D to the approval of Mastercard, which takes a prominent place in the week’s top stories on Biometric Update. Mastercard also launched a solution to help financial institutions offer crypto trading, using its biometrics and other technologies, and the company’s digital identity plans were revealed more fully at the FIDO Alliance’s big annual event. A new FIDO Alliance certification program adds another service to iBeta’s service portfolio, meanwhile.

Top biometrics news of the week

Thales and G+D have had biometric payment cards approved by Mastercard to new contactless EMVCo specifications for security against threats from quantum computing. A research facility in France where Thales works on its cards was profiled in local media, meanwhile.

Mastercard also launched its Crypto Source cryptocurrency trading solution for banks and other financial institutions to the market, which includes digital identity services and biometric features. The launch leverages the technologies the payments provider picked up in the Cipher Trace and Ekata acquisitions, and also involves an integration of Paxos’ technology into banks’ front-end interfaces.

The company’s grand plans to build a global network for reusable digital identity utilizing FIDO architecture were presented at the FIDO Alliance’s Authenticate 2022 by Mastercard SVP of Digital Identity Sarah Clark. The Mastercard ID network includes FIDO biometric authentication, starting with face but with plans for other modalities. The session was among many highlights of the Authenticate 2022 event.

A busy FIDO Alliance also launched a new program to certify online digital identity verification services a week ago. The DocAuth certification confirms the effectiveness of validating government-issued ID documents and matching them to the person presenting them. Assessments will be carried out by the UK ACCS and iBeta.

A pair of connected, major BIPA decisions mean that Microsoft and Amazon will both avoid trials over alleged biometric data privacy violations related to the Diversity in Faces dataset. The federal court ruling that the alleged violations occurred outside of the state and that the companies did not benefit from them could apply to several other cases involving biometrics providers that do not have operations in Illinois.

Dahua has expressed its appreciation to IPVM for bringing to its attention the marketing materials about ethnicity recognition capabilities built into some of its cameras found on the company’s website. It acknowledged the four camera descriptions were authentic, but still denies allegations of wrongdoing.

Lyle Laxton says that funding picked up recently from Enlightenment Capital will be used for acquisitions to help the company scales up as a biometric platform enabler. The CEO also discussed dropping “Group” from his company’s name and how the market is shifting to make use of both end-to-end solutions and industry collaboration in an interview with Biometric Update.

The UK’s new right-to-work check rules are now live, and Reed Screening Director Keith Rosser is concerned that the measure may make hiring harder for many people on both sides, and hold those without a passport out of the job market. Kantara Initiative ED Kay Chopard says that in the future the DIATF should evolve to accommodate the provision of portable digital identity.

There is no consensus among consumers who can be trusted to deliver a unified digital identity, though banks top other contenders, according to an iProov survey. The survey also shows most consumers are now more comfortable using face biometrics than a password in an online transaction.

The for Liberia’s biometric voter registration gear has come to a close, with Ekemp re-winning the contract. Reaction to the procurement saga has included more controversy for the country’s Elections Commission.

Biometrics can play a key role as an authentication method in a self-sovereign identity system, as YooniK CEO and Co-founder Pedro Torres explained in the latest EAB Lunch Talk. The system he proposes would store data in a personal pod, which is not necessarily held on a mobile phone.

The Biometrics Institute is now old enough to buy a glass of wine in the U.S., as long as it can prove its 21 years of advocacy for ethical and effective use of biometric technologies (and personhood). Belated congratulations.

“The Institute team and I are thrilled to reach this milestone as we celebrate 21-years of support from our global member community, Board, Advisory Council and expert groups and committees. During this time there has been a quantum leap in technology, yet our mission to promote the responsible, ethical and effective use of biometrics stands firm as we continue to showcase how Biometrics Institute members have recognised the challenges and worked towards good practices to ensure responsible and ethical implementation,” said Biometrics Institute Chief Executive Isabelle Moeller in an announcement.

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Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  Biometrics Institute  |  digital identity  |  FIDO Alliance  |  identity verification  |  Mastercard  |  research and development  |  week in review