Swiss IT Institute Becomes Third FIDO-Accredited Biometrics Lab

“Now that it has succeeded in becoming an accredited FIDO biometrics lab, Idiap is poised to play an increasingly important role in the broader digital security fight…”

The Idiap Research Institute – a Swiss IT research organization – has become the third accredited testing center for the FIDO Alliance’s Biometrics Component Certification Program.

Affiliated with the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the Idiap Research Institute’s primary focus is on Artificial Intelligence, including machine learning and biometrics; and the research institute supports research and training activities including those at the graduate and post-grad level. It’s now one of only three research labs in the world accredited to conduct evaluations of products and services featuring biometric technologies as per the FIDO Alliance’s standards, joining US-based iBeta, which was the first to receive accreditation, and ELITT/Leti CEA in France, which also received accreditation this spring.

In a statement announcing its accreditation on its website, Idiap explained that it launched its own Biometrics Center in 2014, featuring dedicated equipment including masks that can be used in spoofing attempts against facial recognition systems.

“The FIDO accreditation is part of the Institute’s long-term strategic goal of becoming a key player in the certification of biometric systems,” Idiap said. “Itself a long-term project, the accreditation process began over a year ago and required several months of work.”

Now that it has succeeded in becoming an accredited FIDO biometrics lab, Idiap is poised to play an increasingly important role in the broader digital security fight, with the use of biometric authentication being more and more commonplace, and the need to make sure it’s as secure as possible stronger than ever.