Smile ID updates selfie biometrics software and aces Fime Level 2 PAD assessment

Smile ID has introduced upgraded liveness detection technology which has already passed an independent assessment by Fime for compliance with the international standard for biometric presentation attack detection (PAD) with Level 2 attack instruments.

The assessment tested Smile ID’s Enhanced SmartSelfie software according to the ISO/IEC 30107-3 standard. The software utilizes dynamic liveness challenges, instructing users to perform randomized facial actions as a way to catch fraud attempts. The challenges are what makes the new version of SmartSelfie “Enhanced,” and are determined via a machine learning algorithm.

Enhanced SmartSelfie passed the evaluation with a 0 percent false acceptance rate.

Smile ID says this makes it appropriate for high-risk industries like banking, remittance, digital payments and merchant acquiring.

“Fraudsters constantly adapt, and so do we,” says Mark Straub, CEO of Smile ID. “Enhanced SmartSelfie gives businesses a secure and reliable tool to verify identities, reducing fraud while maintaining a seamless user experience.”

Fime was NVLAP-accredited by America’s NIST near the end of 2023, and the company boosted its consultancy division with the acquisition of Consult Hyperion in September, in the wake of its merger with UL Solutions.

Addressing Africa’s fraud landscape

Fraud continues to plague even Africa’s most developed economies, with Nigeria’s banking industry reporting three-month fraud losses of 42.6 billion naira (approximately US$28 million) from April to June of 2024. A single debit card fraud incident in Kenya cost one of its leading banks $2.1 million, and South Africa’s digital banking sector reported a 45 percent increase in fraud cases in 2023.

Accordingly, Smile ID’s biometric authentication request volume spiked by 700 percent from January to December of last year.

Smile ID has developed its technology for suitability to the African market, with optimization for low-bandwidth conditions and lower-cost Android devices. The company has offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  certification  |  Fime  |  ISO standards  |  ISO/IEC 30107-3  |  presentation attack detection  |  selfie biometrics  |  Smile Identity