ID document validation and selfie biometrics providers invited to join DHS tech demo

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate is hosting a challenge for remote ID validation technologies to help the industry develop tools for combatting identity fraud.

The 2023 Remote Identity Validation Technology Demonstration will be held at the Maryland Test Facility in cooperation with the Transportation Security Administration, Homeland Security Investigations Forensic Laboratory, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

DHS S&T and company will evaluate ID document authenticity-checking effectiveness, including document liveness, as well as selfie liveness detection, and identity verification based on images taken with consumer devices like smartphones. System performance will be measured against what the agency describes as “realistic and sophisticated attacks.” The risks and fairness of systems will be examined.

“Ensuring document liveness is essential for remote ID validation, just as preventing facial spoofs is for biometric authentication, so we’re glad to see document liveness represented in the RIVTD program,” comments Alexey Khitrov, CEO and co-founder, ID R&D, in an email to Biometric Update. ID R&D offers a document liveness product called IDLive Doc.

The findings will be used in developing standards and certification for technologies that defend against attacks on remote identification systems.

“In recent years, there has been significant growth in user demand to create new accounts or apply for benefits without going to a government office or local business,” said Arun Vemury, Lead of S&T’s Biometric and Identity Technology Center. “As a result, there are new tools on the market that attempt to authenticate documents and verify the identity of the applicants. While these technologies provide transformative improvement in user convenience, there are a wide range of questions about the performance and fairness of the technologies as well as concerns that bad actors could exploit weaknesses in the new process to commit fraud at scale.”

Vemury says that with the biometrics industry responding to the evolving needs of government and private sector customers, measures of competing solutions are needed to understand their performance.

He also said in a webinar announcing the event that more than 80 technology providers had signed up to learn more, indicating a very high level of interest.

“The results of this demonstration will inform our understanding of the trust, security, privacy, and equity in the emerging digital identity space, including mobile driver’s license, where TSA has been a leading player working directly with key industry vendors and issuing authorities,” comments TSA Identity Capability Manager Jason Lim.

The API is available through GitHub.

Applications for the RIVTD are opening this month, and due by February 15.

Article Topics

biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  DHS  |  digital ID  |  document liveness  |  document verification  |  Remote Identity Validation Technology Demonstration (RIVTD)  |  remote verification  |  selfie biometrics