Biometrics On the Ballot – 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:

Community Bank Discloses Cyberattack

Middlefield Banking Company, a community bank headquartered in Ohio, has filed a data breach notice with the Attorney General of Massachusetts. It was the result of a cyberattack, and the bank says that an unauthorized party gained access to customers sensitive information, including biometric data, Social Security numbers, and driver’s license numbers, among other types of data. The bank’s management first suspected a data breach in April of last year, and subsequently worked with cybersecurity specialists to discover its nature and impact.

UK Mayoral Candidate Promises Biometric Surveillance

A leading candidate for a mayoral race in York and North Yorkshire in the United Kingdom has made the use of biometric surveillance a part of his campaign platform. Keane Duncan says he wants to pilot camera systems equipped with facial recognition across York, Harrogate, and Scarborough, if elected. “With potential to free up valuable manpower so officers can have a greater presence on our streets, I want the cameras to be tested here in North Yorkshire,” he said. The election is scheduled for May 2, 2024.

ThreatMark Teams With Q2

North Carolina-based ThreatMark has partnered with Q2 Holdings, a provider of digital banking and lending solutions based in Texas. ThreatMark’s behavioral biometrics system has been integrated into the latter’s Digital Banking Platform, through which it will flag aberrant user behavior that indicates potential fraud. ThreatMark is also now a member of the Q2 Partner Accelerator Program. The company has enjoyed a rising profile in recent years, having raised $3 million in a 2021 funding round.

Optics Company to Showcase Fisheye Sensor at CES 2024

2Pi Optics, a Massachusetts-based company, has announced a new high-resolution fisheye sensor based on optical metalens technology that offers a range of potential applications, including robotics, driver-assistance systems, and AR/VR headsets, in which the sensor could support eye tracking, gesture recognition, and facial recognition. 2Pi CEO (and MIT engineering professor) Juejun Hu says that his firm’s design “outperforms conventional refractive, wide-FOV optics in all areas: size, weight, performance, and cost,” adding that “2Pi’s metalenses can be manufactured at wafer scale in conventional semiconductor foundries.” The technology will be showcased at CES 2024.

IAS Announces Innovative Ad Impact Platform

New York-based Integral Ad Science (IAS) has launched Quality Attention, a platform designed to help companies assess the impact of marketing media. IAS says Quality Attention is the first such product to combine biometric datasets with quality assessments of media products. It leverages eye-tracking technology from Lumen Research, thanks to a partnership established between the companies last year.

Intellicheck Streamlines User Experience

Intellicheck has upgraded its platform, offering a streamlined user authentication system. Its Identity Platform features facial recognition and document scanning, and its Capture process now has an automated focus and snap system. The platform has also been equipped with a new barcode scanning feature. Intellicheck says its services are currently used by “many of the top 12 banks and credit card issuers”, and by two major social media companies and over half of America’s state-level law enforcement agencies.

Iris ID Becomes Exclusive NA Doorcam Reseller

Iris ID Systems has entered an agreement to become the exclusive North American Representative of remo+ DoorCam 3+ LTE over-the-door connected smart security cameras, which are supported by AT&T LTE connectivity, in addition to wifi. Iris ID has been a remo+ partner since 2020, through a partnership in which the company offers remo+ its biometrics expertise. The current-generation DoorCam 3 supports face detection, helping to ensure that the camera only alerts users when actual human faces are detected in a surveillance feed.

Imo Gets Passkey Support

London-based Imo has added passkey support to its eponymous online messaging platform, offering the latest sign of the growing reach of the passwordless authentication solution. Imo supports text-based messaging as well as audio and video calls, and places a strong focus on security. In a statement, the company emphasized that with passkeys, users can log in with a fingerprint or face scan on their mobile device, and that data is not sent to Imo itself. It also noted that it uses “state-of-the-art asymmetric cryptography safeguards” to protect end users against password theft.

authID Picks Up Momentum

authID continues to pick up momentum after its major corporate overhaul and rebrand last year, announcing that its Q4 bookings represented a 64 percent increase over those of Q3. In a statement, authID said that during the quarter it had signed contracts with “gross Booked Annual Recurring Revenue” (a non-GAAP measure) “preliminarily” valued at $1.7 million. Newly signed customers included an international digital wallet provider and a “leading entertainment business software provider”, among others. The update comes after authID raised its Q2 2024 Booked Annual Recurring Revenue target from $3 million to $6 million in November of last year.

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January 4, 2024 – by Alex Perala