FIDO, the DoD, and BIPA: 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:

TOTM Acquires InterBIO

Singapore-based TOTM Technologies, a provider of biometric identity management solutions, has established a Sale and Purchase Agreement to acquire the remaining 49 percent of InterBIO. It will do so via the allotment and issuance of up to 470,470,000 new ordinary shares at a fixed price of S$0.14 per share. InterBIO is a holding company that owns 99 percent of PT International Biometrics Indonesia, or PT IBI. PT IBI licenses biometric technology from partners including TECH5, and is mainly focused on doing business with the government sector.

FIDO Launches ‘DocAuth’ Certification Program

The FIDO Alliance has announced a new certification that could prove particularly important in the booming field of selfie-based remote onboarding. FIDO’s Document Authenticity – or “DocAuth” – Certification Program is intended to certify that a vendor’s mobile document verification solution is able to accurately determine whether or not a government-issued ID is authentic and that it matches the user. FIDO says that multiple vendors have already begun the DocAuth certification process and that the first DocAuth Certified products should emerge in early 2023.

New BIO-key Client

BIO-key has announced that an unnamed “large auto group” based in the southwestern United States has chosen its PortalGuard IDaaS identity and access management solution to secure its corporate assets. The customer, which supports multiple automotive dealerships, is looking to PortalGuard’s multi-factor authentication capabilities to help ensure that it is in compliance with the FTC’s Safeguards Rule, which requires non-banking financial institutions, including car dealerships, to ensure that they are protecting customer data.

Electric Car Features Facial Recognition

China-based auto brand GWM has unveiled a new Tesla Model 3 rival that features facial recognition technology. Dubbed the 2023 Ora Next Cat, the car uses its biometric tech to recognize a given driver and automatically adjust seating and infotainment system preferences accordingly. The Ora Next Cat made its debut at this week’s Paris Motor Show.

UBS Leverages Biometric Passports for Onboarding

UBS is now allowing anyone with a biometric Swiss passport to open a basic banking account online through a fully automated process. Customers can do so through the UBS Mobile Banking app, and qualifying individuals will see their new bank accounts activated immediately.

Claimants Petition Samsung in BIPA Lawsuit

A group of 50,000 plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against Samsung under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) has filed a motion to compel the company to pay for arbitration in the dispute. The group’s lawsuit claims that Samsung violated BIPA through its covert use of facial recognition on users of its Galaxy mobile devices when they took selfie photos. Samsung includes a mandatory arbitration provision and class action waiver in its terms of use, and the petitioners claim that it has refused to honor its obligation to pay its share of the arbitration process.

Cloudwalk Added to DoD Blacklist

Cloudwalk Technology has become the latest China-based facial recognition company to be added to the US government’s blacklist. The company has provided its biometric technology to the Bank of China and Haitong Securities, as well as to the Zimbabwe government. Cloudwalk joins compatriots DeepGlint, Megvii, and SenseTime in facing economic restrictions from US authorities. In announcing its latest blacklist additions, the US Department of Defense explained that it is seeking to prevent US investment in China’s military-industrial complex.

Researchers Say ‘Gotcha’ to Deepfakes

Researchers at New York University have published a new paper outlining a system of anti-spoofing techniques that could be used to counter the t

hreat of deepfakes in online, face-based interactions. Framed as a kind of CAPTCHA for the face, the “Gotcha” system includes passive elements like superimposing virtual elements over the user’s face image in order to disrupt AI systems, and active prompts for the user to do things like turn their face at an unusual angle. The paper builds on earlier work from Ben-Gurion University’s Offensive AI Research Lab.

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October 17, 2022 – by Alex Perala