A series of new biometrics products, certifications, brands and contracts made headlines this week, with decentralized identity and Web3 represented by Reltime’s biometric payment card and IriTech’s new partnership. Xydus’ new UK certification, the introduction of ZeroBiometrics, and a contract win for Pangea also demonstrate the growth of digital identity in different areas.
Top biometrics news of the week
A hacker stole internal files from Entrust in a recent cyberattack, the company has confirmed. The company says its investigation is ongoing, but it is unknown to the public what kind of data was stolen, and if it includes sensitive personal information used in Entrust’s digital identity services.
A Web3 biometric payment card is coming from Reltime, with cold storage and digital ID features built in. The company raised $50 million to bring that product, along with the rest of its suite of tools for financial services, which include a decentralized exchange, NFT Marketplace, and Metaverse SDK.
Iris biometrics from IriTech have been integrated with the Decentralized Identity Data Hub from IBCT to secure access to its hardware wallet. The wallet is part of an SSI ecosystem which the partners say is unparalleled for secure amongst blockchain and metaverse applications.
Amazon’s second try to have a civil suit filed against it for alleged biometric data privacy violations thrown out with the same argument were not appreciated by the federal court judge hearing the case. Clearview argued that multi-district litigation against it lacked personal jurisdiction, but was likewise unsuccessful in having the case dismissed.
Former FTC Acting Director Daniel Kaufman tells Biometric Update in an interview that the U.S. Federal Government is likely to take action on data privacy soon, but his former agency is not likely to play a lead role. Partisanship looms over the commission, but there is a mechanism for it to make rules if Congress does not.
A team of researchers with the IEEE have published a paper warning of the potential danger of master face attacks against facial recognition algorithms. Presentation attacks based on latent variable evolution algorithms could return matches to multiple enrolled biometric templates, posing “a severe security threat.”
What is the best way to measure bias in biometric systems? NIST would like to hear from experts, the institute says in its second report on bias in facial recognition. Five metrics are considered in the FRVT Part 8, but none have been perfected yet. The test results do show improvement in the algorithms, with Corsight claiming it has achieved equality in match rates between men and women, and white and Black people.
Xydus is one of the first firms certified to the UK Trust Framework to provide ‘Right to Work’ DBS checks, after being approved together with partner Vialto. Mastercard has been accredited under Australia’s Trusted Digital Identity Framework, meanwhile, joining a small list of ID issuance and management providers.
The delay in the passage of the Online Safety Bill in the UK need not delay businesses from improving their efforts to protect children, Jumio Chief of Digital Identity Philipp Pointner writes for Open Access Government. The public is strongly supportive of increased measures to keep children off of inappropriate platforms, Pointner argues, and digital identity makes that possible now.
An appraisal of SenseTime’s outlook says facial recognition and AI in electric vehicles will generate major revenue, and until then the company has plenty of cash on hand from its recent IPO. The company currently relies mostly on the same kind of domestic government smart city contracts that another publication sees as a worrisome sign for Megvii, however.
Infinity has renamed its QuantumCrypt biometric hashing platform as ZeroBiometrics, and launched an enhanced version of its technology to provide high-security and privacy-protecting authentication. The platform’s flagship is ZeroFace, and it is now available for integration with Android and iOS applications.
UK Home Office has launched a tender opportunity for biometrics providers to be one of three to provide self-service kiosks for immigration applications. The contracts will award up to £500,000 to each provider chosen for the complete provision of at least four kiosks.
Pangea and partner OSD have won a contract for the design and issuance of Andorra’s biometric passports, with a complete deployment expected by the end of the year. The partners will provide registration systems, data encryption and printing for the tiny European country.
Pindrop Director of Research explains to Biometric Update how the company arrived at its current position in the voice biometrics market, and what it does to correct for alterations in people’s voices over time. He also discusses the potential of age estimation with voice technology, and the future of voice interaction.
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Article Topics
biometric authentication | biometrics | data privacy | decentralized ID | digital identity | facial recognition | government purchasing | identity verification | research and development | web3
