Biometrics’ increasing power and accuracy on full display across several sectors

The future of biometrics, or at least several possible paths for the technology, are seen in the top stories of the week on Biometric Update. Frontex is anticipating mobile biometrics, NIST is increasing accuracy guidelines, ID R&D and Anonybit put the threat posed by generative AI into context, and Worldcoin continues to make waves. NXP is pursuing a major opportunity in India and Facewatch is dealing with controversy.

Top biometrics news of the week

A new report from Frontex presents recommendations drawn from a conference earlier this year on strengthening the borders of Europe’s Schengen Area, so that member nations don’t reintroduce their own border checks. They include the adoption of mobile biometrics and vehicle tracking technologies, and more cooperation with industry. A standardized data collection approach could help.

The changes NIST is making or debating to its Digital Identity Guidelines are not yet final, but they are expected to be quite significant. A revamped risk management approach, lower false-match rates for biometric authentication, and an overhaul of identity assurance levels were presented in an agency event, along with observations on the feedback provided by industry on these proposals.

More than 40 percent of businesses surveyed by ID R&D have observed deepfake fraud attacks, and nearly as many have seen injection attacks, CEO Alexey Khitrov revealed in the latest Biometric Update webinar. He and Anonybit CEO Frances Zelazny put the threat of generative AI into the context of a cybersecurity industry that is already familiar with the concepts and has the tools to mitigate these attacks available.

A cyberattack claimed by Anonymous Sudan has disrupted the operation of Kenya’s eCitizen portal, which gives people access to 5,000 government services. The hacker group also claims to have stolen passport data, but the government denies any biometrics or personal data has been stolen.

Worldcoin is under scrutiny from data protection authorities in the UK, France, Germany and Kenya as the company’s operational ramp-up attracts attention. None of the regulators have acted against Worldcoin yet, except for Kenya, and the company claims to be compliant with GDPR, but questions remain about its corporate structure, and civil society groups and governments are issuing warnings.

Rwanda has begun collecting bids for a major contract to digitize its civil registration archiving system. There are at least 40,000 books full of CRVS records that need to go into a database to make it possible to search and verify records. The contract will be awarded in September.

NXP Semiconductors is in talks with India’s government about a project to develop an authentication system with the UIDAI using biometrics stored on microchips, a company executive has revealed. The company already supplies biometric chips for passports in India and elsewhere, and for ID cards used in authentication.

Startling new details of the security incident involving a Clear subscriber and the TSA’s subsequent investigation have been reported, though the company takes issue with the report. Meanwhile, South Korea’s largest airport has implemented a facial recognition service for pre-registered passengers with Alchera software at 16 gates, and Kazakhstan is taking initial steps towards installing airport biometrics.

Another company providing a particular biometric application facing controversy is Facewatch. An advocacy group suggests a letter from the UK Home Office to the ICO following a meeting with Facewatch on the benefits of retail biometrics amounts to inappropriate pressure.

Australia is launching a digital identity system for goats and sheep, with registration mandatory from the beginning of 2025. As The Mandarin points out, that means the National Livestock Identification System could be ready before its equivalent for humans.

Please tell us about any interviews, thought leadership pieces or other content we should share with the people in biometrics and the digital identity community in the comments below or though social media.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  week in review