Face biometrics put to the test for security from G20 to remote credential renewals

Selfie biometrics and facial recognition are prominent among the week’s top articles on Biometric Update for IFPC week. They include a government authentication pilot in Australia and big fundraise by Privy on the former count, and Asli, Akurart and Innovatrics supplying security technology for the G20, on the latter. Pangea also won a contract for an ABIS including the face modality, while strong NIST testing results for secunet face morphing detection also made headlines.

Top biometrics news of the week

People in the EU will be using digital ID wallets built to regional standards two years from now, according to the timeline set out by a legislator. The standards and specifications are expected to be published in 2023, giving countries until the end of 2024 to roll out their version. Some privacy advocates and businesses are already expressing concern about the plans.

The Australian state of New South Wales is piloting the selfie biometric identity verification function of a smartphone-based digital ID system. Biometric data storage is decentralized, but privacy impact and other assessments are yet to be completed. The ID verification will be tested with renewals of credentials for working with children.

The facial recognition security system used at the G20 summit in Indonesia was supplied by Asli RI and its partners Akurart Satu and Innovatrics, Biometric Update revealed this week. The system was integrated with databases held by multiple agencies and a network of 1,700 CCTV cameras.

Privy has raised $48 million in series C funding and plans to expand its portfolio of biometrics, digital ID and signature products. After strengthening its market position in Indonesia, the company then intends to use the funds to go international.

Pangea has won a government contract in the DRC worth $70 million to help establish an ABIS for criminal background checks. The national database will contain the face and fingerprint biometrics of convicts, and be searchable from 150 police stations across the country.

A BIPA lawsuit ruling earlier this month will have far-reaching consequences for America’s most litigated biometric data privacy regulation, Squire Patton Boggs Attorney David J. Oberly writes in a guest post for Biometric Update. DePaul University counts as a financial institution under BIPA, and is therefore exempt. Oberly clarifies the situation for businesses.

ID.me is pitching its identity verification as a way to improve financial inclusion in the U.S. There are nearly 6 million unbanked American adults, and the company says the wide range of ways it offers for people to prove who they are can make financial services available to more people.

Veridos reflects on the importance of legal identity for all as the world surpasses 8 billion in population in a corporate announcement. CEO Marc-Julien Siewert argues that they all need proof of legal identity to live modern lives, and invokes SDG 16.9.

Fraud in the cryptocurrency market grew by over 300 percent from 2021 to the first half of 2022, a Group-IB executive said at the Global Anti Scam Summit in the Netherlands. Fear of cybercrime is common among fintech users, and a Trulioo report suggests the crypto market has begun accepting some friction in customer onboarding as a necessary evil.

Three different biometrics developers announced high scores in four different NIST evaluations. Idemia reports top marks in the latest latent palm and fingerprint extraction and matching benchmark, while secunet says the latest face morph detection test shows it now meets the standard for operational use in border protection. Tech5 algorithms were among the most accurate in both fingerprint (PFT III) and iris (IREX 10) biometrics tests.

Also this week, Edge Industry Review Editor Jim Davis, Tech5’s Rahul Parthe, ID R&D’s Alexey Khitrov, and Innovatrics’ Robert Izak joined Biometric Update for a webinar exploring ‘Biometrics at the Edge.’ The webinar explores two significantly different use cases for edge biometrics, and is now available on demand.

Please let us know about any editorials, podcasts or other content we should pass along to the people in biometrics and the larger digital identity community in the comments below or through social media.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  biometrics research  |  data privacy  |  digital identity  |  facial recognition  |  identity verification  |  selfie biometrics  |  week in review