Fime Obtains NIST NVLAP Accreditation

Fime, the French security consulting and testing agency, has become the first European lab to be accredited under the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)’s National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) for biometric testing (“NVLAP Lab Code 600365-0”).

This program ensures that laboratories engaged in the testing of biometric devices — such as fingerprint, facial recognition, and iris scanning technologies — adhere to rigorous standards and protocols. The accreditation process involves a thorough evaluation of a laboratory’s technical competence and compliance with international and national standards, including practices for ensuring the accuracy, reliability, and security of biometric systems.

By obtaining NVLAP accreditation, a laboratory demonstrates its capability to perform high-quality, unbiased testing of biometric technologies, a crucial factor given the increasing reliance on biometrics for security, identification, and authentication purposes in various sectors, including government, healthcare, and finance.

The accreditation means that Fime can now assess clients’ solutions against the ISO/IEC 19795 standard for biometric matching accuracy, and against the ISO/IEC 30107 standard for presentation attack detection.

“The role of biometrics in consumers’ daily lives continues to grow. However, it is crucial that the convenience of these solutions does not come at the expense of security,” said Fime’s VP of Services, Noël Catherine. “This is especially important as AI technology continues to evolve and deepfakes become more common. And to achieve widespread adoption, it’s just as important to ensure that biometrics are easy to use and any environmental or demographic bias is minimized.”

The accreditation should help to further cement Fime as a key accreditation body in the biometrics space. The lab was accredited under the FIDO Alliance’s Biometric Component Certification Program in 2020, and has locations around the world, including in Canada, the United States, the UAE, China, India, Japan, Korea, and Taipei, in addition to France.

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December 13, 2023 – by the FindBiometrics Editorial Team