Passkeys and Passive PAD – 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:

Florida Uses ID.me Facial Recognition in Provision of Emergency Relief

In the wake of Hurricane Idalia, Floridians seeking disaster relief are being required to undergo identity verification via facial recognition when engaging with FloridaCommerce. The state agency has a contract with ID.me to provide the biometric technology. A representative of the Florida ACLU argues that individuals “shouldn’t be required to undergo a facial recognition process or give up sensitive private information to a private company in order to access critical government services.” ID.me’s Senior Director of Fraud Investigations and Operations, J.T. Taylor, happened to be in Washington this week, testifying to the House Committee on Small Businesses that ID.me’s technology could have presented business loan fraud during the pandemic.

Passkeys Come to Windows 11

Microsoft has officially enabled passkey support on Windows 11, announcing that it’s one of multiple new security features that are “on by default” for new installs of the operating system. The passkey concept, which enables users to unlock cryptographic sign-in credentials through biometric authentication, is uniquely synergistic with Windows Hello, which has a built-in biometric login system, Windows Hello. Microsoft first started rolling out passkey support in a beta version of Windows 11 in June of this year.

ID R&D Outperforms in NIST’s Passive PAD Evaluation

ID R&D has outperformed the competition in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s first evaluation program of passive facial presentation attack detection algorithms. The evaluation program saw the participation of 82 algorithms from 45 developers, with ID R&D getting more top rankings than any other developer across various metrics in a branch of the testing program focused on impersonation. “Using just a single image frame, we’ve managed to achieve near-zero error rates with a solution that is completely transparent to users, setting a new benchmark for the industry,” said the company’s Chief Security Officer, Konstantin Simonchik.

Zwipe Teams With Italian Access and Attendance Specialist

Oslo-based Zwipe has teamed up with Italy’s Sintesi, a provider of access control and time and attendance solutions. The latter is presenting an access solution based on Zwipe’s fingerprint-scanning smart cards at its annual corporate event, “Lean Thinking”, today, and will offer the solution to its customer base going forward. Sintesi CEO Silvano Ferro says doing so will put his firm at “the forefront of innovation by allowing deploying a complete multi-factor authentication system at a much lower cost than alternative technologies while reducing risks and costs related to GDPR.”

Innovatrics Fights Spoofing With Video Injection Attack Detection

Innovatrics has launched a Video Injection Attack Detection system. Video injection attacks attempt to insert video of an authorized user into an authentication session, exploiting a system’s inability to distinguish between live input and recorded video. Innovatrics says its algorithms are able to “detect the authenticity of the camera” during authentication, explaining that its solution encrypts data for evaluation on a remote server. The Video Injection Attack Detection system should serve to further bolster the security of Innovatrics’ Digital Onboarding Toolkit.

Shufti Pro Enhances Identity Tech, Partners With Aconomy Platform

Shufti Pro has upgraded its selfie-based identity verification platform. The company says its facial recognition tech now features “depth sensing technology” driven by Machine Learning, enabling it to more accurately detect presentation attacks. The company has also launched an “e-IDV” solution that no longer requires end users to take photos of their physical identity documents; instead, it cross-checks their information against government databases. This new system is supported in 45 countries, Shufti Pro says. The news comes alongside a partnership with Aconomy, a decentralized trading platform for ‘Real-World Assets’ such as artworks, which is now using Shufti Pro’s technology for KYC and AML compliance.

3D-Printed Earbuds Scan Brain Signals and Sweat for Seizure Analysis

University of California San Diego researchers have developed flexible, 3D-printed earbuds that are capable of reading EEG signals from the wearer’s brain, and are covered in a hydrogel film allowing them to collect sweat lactate, an acid found in sweat. Together, these capabilities enable the analysis of data that can be used to identify different kinds of seizures. The wearables can also measure stress and focus signals, and the researchers believe that further enhancements could enable them to collect the kinds of health metrics that are gauged using everyday fitness-tracking wearables.

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September 29, 2023 – by Alex Perala