A Big Acquisition, New Mobile Biometrics Tech, and More – Identity News Digest

Welcome to FindBiometrics’ digest of identity industry news. Here’s what you need to know about the world of digital identity and biometrics today:

Onfido Acquires Digital ID Pioneer

Onfido has acquired the digital identity for travel pioneer Airside. Founded in 2009, the company really made a name for itself during the pandemic, when its digital identity app was approved by the Transportation Security Administration and embraced by American Airlines, which started letting its AAdvantage members enjoy expedited airport screening through the TSA PreCheck program in June of last year. Now, the companies will work together to combine the Airside Digital Identity App with Onfido’s Real Identity Platform, which has identity verification capabilities based on document reading and biometric technologies, as well as trusted data sources and scanning for fraud signals. Read our full story.

New Samsung OLED Can Scan Fingers, Measure Heart Rate

Samsung Display has unveiled two technological innovations at this week’s SID Display Week in Los Angeles. One is an OLED panel that can measure the user’s heart rate and blood pressure; it requires the user to touch the panel with two fingers, one from each hand. It also features an embedded fingerprint recognition system that can scan a finger from anywhere on the screen. The other innovation is a flexible screen that can be rolled into a scroll-type form factor, dubbed the “Rollable Flex”.

Amazon Enables Booze Sales Via Palm Scanning POS

Amazon has built a new age verification feature for its palm-scanning point-of-sale device, with the age of enabling organizations to use it to sell restricted goods like alcohol. Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies baseball team, will be the first to do just that, allowing registered fans to buy booze with the wave of a hand. To enroll for the feature, a consumer must not only register their palm biometrics and payment information, but also upload a selfie photo along with images of their official ID to confirm their age and identity through the Amazon One website. Amazon says the age verification feature will come to additional establishments in the coming months.

Palm Payments Come to Beijing Subway

Meanwhile, palm-based payments have come to the Beijing subway system in China. Registered passengers can pay a fare with a palm scan at the Daxing Airport Express metro line that connects to the Beijing Daxing International Airport. The system is linked with the messaging platform WeChat, which features a payment capability.

Veriff Enters Age Estimation Market

Veriff has launched its own age estimation tool, further leveraging its face biometrics technology after adapting it for a selfie-based login solution last year. Veriff Age Estimation is meant to help end users confirm their age without having to share other identity information, such as the name and address shown on a driver’s license. Veriff faces some stiff competition in the age estimation tech space, particularly from Yoti, which has seen its own solution adopted on major platforms like Instagram.

IDEX Gets Another Cards Partner

IDEX Biometrics has a new partner in the Middle East, the name of which has not been disclosed. In a statement, the company said its new partner is a “global leading card manufacturer and payments solution provider” with annual production volume of 30 million cards. It will add IDEX’s fingerprint-scanning cards to the mix, aiming for a commercial rollout in the fourth quarter of this year. Just about a week ago, IDEX had announced its fourth partnership with a Turkey-based card issuer, suggesting the company is on a roll in its effort to expand its partner network.

PortalGuard Comes to Another County

Ohio’s Wood County has become the latest county-level government to adopt BIO-key’s PortalGuard solution for authentication security. County officials selected PortalGuard through an official solicitation process, specifying the need for integration with Microsoft Azure Active Directory. PortalGuard will support about 900 accounts that require access to Wood County assets. The development comes after North Carolina’s Robeson County adopted PortalGuard in February of this year.

Trust Stamp Gets Notice of Allowance

Atlanta-based Trust Stamp has further expanded its IP portfolio, announcing that it has received a new Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office. As its title describes, the patent covers “Systems and processes for lossy biometric representation”. Trust Stamp explains that “lossy” anonymized vector representations of biometrics don’t include all of the data from a given biometric, and thus allow for “enhanced security when dealing with a subject’s sensitive biometric data”, while still offering enough information for biometric matching.Trust Stamp now has more than 30 patents issued, allowed, or pending.

Fossil Faces Wearable Biometrics Lawsuit

The watch-focused fashion company Fossil is facing a lawsuit over alleged patent infringement. The suit has been filed by Fitistics LLC, and concerns patents covering technologies involved in “using smart devices to assist in processing and displaying recorded biometric data, including, but not limited to, data generated during exercise.” Filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, the lawsuit claims that more than 20 watches from Fossil and its associated brands stand in violation of Fitistics’ IP.

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May 23, 2023 – by Alex Perala