EU SafeTravellers project works to secure biometric digital travel credentials

Idemia Public Security, iProov, Vision-Box and Ubiquitous Technologies Company (Ubitech) are part of a European Union-funded project to introduce traveler identification based on multiple biometrics at the continent’s borders and detect identity fraud.

Project SafeTravellers is helping European border control and law enforcement agencies develop tools to identify and verify EU citizens and third-country nationals through biometrics, including developing a digital ID app. The 7.4 million euro (US$8.4 million) initiative also aims to prevent sophisticated fraud such as biometric manipulation, morphing attacks and document forgery used by criminal networks to bypass border security.

Idemia’s task in the project is to provide biometric authentication and document verification, the digital identity company explains in a recent blog post.

In France, the company is working on improving document authentication, including figuring out techniques that can reduce reflections from light sources when travelers scan documents with a device. The firm is also trying to boost Optical Character Recognition (OCR) accuracy.

In Germany, Idemia is working on improving facial recognition to fight look-alike fraud and makeup attacks, in which individuals alter their appearance to evade identity verification.

Finally, the company is also working on developing an integrated software platform that combines pre-registration, document verification and biometric authentication for SafeTravellers.

“This solution will be available as a smartphone app for travelers and border control agents, as well as through static versions for eGates and border kiosks,” the company says. “A prototype is already in development, with a pilot phase planned to bring the technology closer to real-world implementation.”

SafeTravellers: 23 partners from 14 countries

The project is funded by the Horizon Europe research and innovation framework and lasts from January 2024 until the end of 2026. Aside from Idemia, the initiative has over 20 partner organizations from 14 countries, including universities, industry associations, law enforcement agencies and private companies.

SafeTravellers is attempting to incorporate several technologies. Among them is a mobile wallet that stores digital ID documents such as mobile passports, allowing travellers to control data through self-sovereign identity (SSI) management and enabling a more frictionless travel experience.

The project is also working on a unified biometric framework for border checks and combining facial and fingerprint recognition for better accuracy. Suspicious patterns can be detected through threat intelligence and AI-driven analytics.

Other parts of the SafeTravellers project delve into identifying document fraud, including morphing detection, identifying fraudsters attempting to alter their appearance and strengthening biometric systems against security breaches.

Greece-based Ubitech, for instance, is helping to introduce an identity management system and onboarding mechanism based on SSI. The company is also working on threat intelligence and remote, runtime attestation services focused on the software and hardware layers of biometric devices to prevent attacks.

Article Topics

biometric passport  |  border security  |  digital identity  |  digital travel  |  digital travel credentials  |  EU  |  Idemia Public Security  |  iProov  |  SafeTravellers  |  Ubitech  |  Vision-Box