TL;DR
- Stronger presentation attack detection for face biometrics has been unveiled by Apple, while the long-awaited launch of under-display Touch ID is still two years away, according to a pair of new reports. Also, Apple granted a new facial recognition patent
- Apple is collaborating with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Biogen on new biometric capabilities for iPhones aimed at detecting depression and signs of cognitive decline via expression recognition and behavioral biometrics
- Researchers at Israeli Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have found a way to thwart facial recognition cameras using certain software-generated patterns and natural makeup techniques, with a success rate of 98 percent
- New research has come out looking at how eye movements can be used for biometric identification. A team of researchers at the Silesian University of Technology in Poland found eye behaviors unique to 24 study participants. The behaviors were gleaned from how volunteers performed in experiments in which they had to follow a point racing around 29 locations on a screen
- Gender bias, not uncommon in facial recognition, is not necessarily a factor in detecting face biometric presentation attacks, according to new research
- The new paper explores facial recognition biases beyond demographics
- DHS suggests face biometrics bias reduction method, quantifies demographic effects
- FaceTec upgrades face biometrics SDKs with OCR, document scanning features
- The Humanode testnet is coming this week. The participants will be able to go through a biometric enrollment process and become human nodes, validate blocks, send transactions and take part in the $100,000 anti-spoofing bounty program by FaceTec
- Microsoft has announced that a feature enabling users to log into their accounts using more secure and convenient authentication methods, with passwordless multifactor authentication (MFA) rolling out in the coming weeks
- Amazon is moving forward with its plans to expand its Amazon One palm recognition system. The service can now be used for contactless entry at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado, and will soon become available at other concert venues across the United States
- Google rumored to bring back Face Unlock on Pixel 6
- Meeami biometric solution featured in 10M phones
- Precise Biometrics’ tech included in Vivo iQOO 8 Pro
- Truepic raises $26M to fight deepfakes and image fraud
- Deep Vision raises $35M for biometrics applications
- Knowles releases new Raspberry Pi Development Kit
- Whoop gets intimate with biometric health-monitoring underwear
- Rank One face biometric accuracy leaps in latest NIST benchmarking
- NEC claims to win in NIST iris biometrics accuracy test
- IriTech and Partron partner on iris biometrics for mixed reality applications
- Tech5 and Imageware integrate biometrics portfolios, unveil first joint customer win
- Integrated Biometrics plans integration of touchless fingerprint enhancements
- Austin GIS launched to support computer vision IaaS with $6M from Vsblty, others
- Amadeus signs up Lufthansa for digital health pass integration
- iDenfy, Veriff, IDmission reveal selfie biometrics partnerships
- Idemia unveils SaaS ABIS to bring fingerprint biometrics to smaller agencies
- UK plans $550M budget for government digital identity update
- Queensland Police deploy devices with face biometrics to stop drunk drivers
- Alexa voice biometrics to be integrated into touchless purchases across India
- FIDO authentication forecast to surpass $565M by 2031 for security, UX, fraud prevention
- Biometrics industry events. And more!
Biometrics Market
The Biometric system market size is projected to grow from USD 36.6 billion in 2020 to USD 68.6 billion by 2025; it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.4% during the forecast period. Increasing use of biometrics in consumer electronic devices for authentication and identification purposes, the growing need for surveillance and security with the heightened threat of terrorist attacks, and the surging adoption of biometric technology in automotive applications are the major factor propelling the growth of the biometric system market.
Biometric Research & Development
Latest Research:
Dodging attack using carefully crafted natural makeup
by Nitzan Guetta, Asaf Shabtai, Inderjeet Singh, Satoru Momiyama, Yuval Elovici
Researchers at Israeli Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have found a way to thwart facial recognition cameras using certain software-generated patterns and natural makeup techniques, with a success rate of 98 percent.
For the study ‘Dodging Attack Using Carefully Crafted Natural Makeup’, the team of five used YouCam Makeup, a selfie app to digitally apply makeup to identifiable regions of 20 participants’ faces. In the second condition, a makeup artist physically recreated the digitally applied, software-generated makeup patterns on participants, but in a naturalistic way. Participants walked through a hallway videoed by two cameras. In both the physical and digital makeup tests the participants were flagged as blacklisted individuals for the systems to be alert to.
The face biometric system was unable to identify any of the participants where makeup was digitally applied. For the physical makeup recreation experiment, “the face recognition system was able to identify the participants in only 1.22 percent of the frames (compared to 47.57 percent without makeup and 33.73 percent with random natural makeup), which is below a reasonable threshold of a realistic operational environment,” states the paper.
“[The makeup artist] didn’t do too much tricks, just see the makeup in the image and then she tried to copy it into the physical world. It’s not a perfect copy there. There are differences but it still worked,” Nitzan Guettan, a doctoral student and lead author of the study told Vice.
“Our attacker assumes a black-box scenario, meaning that the attacker cannot access the target FR model, its architecture, or any of its parameters. Therefore, [the] attacker’s only option is to alter his/her face before being captured by the cameras that feeds the input to the target FR model,” according to the research paper.
Adversarial machine learning (AML) attacks have been conducted before. In June, Israeli firm Adversa announced the creation of the ‘Adversarial Octopus,’ a black-box transferable attack designed to fool face biometrics models.
While facial recognition systems have not historically been able to identify those wearing face coverings, the pandemic accelerated the drive to advance this capability. Corsight AI announced in July that the company’s facial recognition system, Fortify, is able to identify individuals wearing motorcycle helmets and face covers at the same time.
A study of gender bias in face presentation attack and its mitigation
by Norah Alshareef, Xiaohong Yuan, Kaushik Roy, and Mustafa Atay
Gender bias, not uncommon in facial recognition, is not necessarily a factor in detecting face biometric presentation attacks, according to new research.
A team of scientists at a pair of universities in North Carolina looked into the possibility of bias after noticing it has received light attention despite continuing global concern about the credibility of facial recognition systems in general.
The work, done at North Carolina A&T State and Winston-Salem State universities, “exposed minor gender bias” in presentation attack detection methods based on convolutional neural networks, or CNNs.
The authors of the paper acknowledged that other forms of bias can be present, but left proving that to future work.
Underrepresentation of female faces in training data was not necessarily the source of gender bias in the model, according to the team’s paper. Also, the debiasing variational autoencoder, or DB-VAE, method used in experiments mitigated what bias there was in detecting spoof faces.
The door was left open to expand future experiments beyond the two CNN models employed in this work — Resnet50 with transfer learning and VGG16. The researchers expressed interest in including more CNNs, possibly including, Le-NET-5, AlexNet-5 and Inception-v3.
Amazon, Microsoft and Google, the three biggest companies developing face biometrics, cannot seem to get off the mat on the issue of bias, making further research important.
A comprehensive study on face recognition biases beyond demographics
by Philipp Terhörst; Jan Niklas Kolf; Marco Huber; Florian Kirchbuchner, et al.
The well-reported biases surrounding skin tone and sex are not the only biases held by facial recognition systems, finds a new paper, which calls for far more development of face biometric systems in order for them to be fair.
‘A Comprehensive Study on Face Recognition Biases Beyond Demographics’ from a German-Spanish team tested the FaceNet and ArcFace facial recognition models with the MAAD-face dataset which has more than 120 million attribute annotations for 3.3 million face images, to see whether the models returned biases beyond explicit demographics such as age, sex and skin tone.
The team also tested non-explicit demographic attributes such as accessories, hairstyles and colors, face shapes, facial anomalies, and make-up.
The early release of the full paper, which could be subject to further editing on final publication, includes the results for the different attributes tested, generating revealing graphs for the level of bias for both FaceNet and ArcFace, plotting the attributes which lead to bias causing a degraded level of biometric recognition, and those that lead to enhanced recognition performance.
Having a mustache, goatee, round face, an obstructed forehead or rosy cheeks or wearing lipstick or glasses can all lead to degraded recognition. Having gray hair improves it, as does having a beard or even just a 5 o’clock shadow compared to no beard.
The authors were able to explain some of the reasons behind the results, but not all. “The findings of this work strongly demonstrate the need for further advances in making face recognition systems more robust, explainable, and fair. We hope these findings lead to the development of more robust and unbiased face recognition solutions,” concludes the paper.
AnyVision recently called on companies developing biometrics and AI algorithms to remove demographic bias, in response to the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) call for public comment on its proposed method for evaluating user trust in AI systems. OpenAI has admitted demographic biases in its new computer vision model.
Quantifying the extent to which race and gender features determine identity in commercial face recognition algorithms
by John J. Howard Yevgeniy B. Sirotin Jerry L. Tipton
Removing facial features associated with race and gender can make face biometric algorithms less likely to confuse people with others based on those demographics, according to new research from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The paper ‘Quantifying the Extent to Which Race and Gender Features Determine Identity in Commercial Face Recognition Algorithms’ reveals the finding that race and gender sameness contribute about 10 percent to the variation of face biometric similarity scores.
The composition of the biometric database an image is being matched against could have a major influence on the extent of differences in accuracy for different groups, particularly in police applications, DHS Maryland Test Facility Principal Data Scientist John Howard explains in a post to LinkedIn. He suggests that the existing body of work on fairness in face biometrics based on 1:1 matching, or verification, does not necessarily provide accurate insight into the problem in 1:N or recognition scenarios.
The paper was authored by Howard, Yevgeniy Sirotin and Jerry Tipton of DHS’ Maryland Test Facility (MdTF), along with Arun Vemury of DHS’ Science and Technology Directorate.
They used data collected during the 2018 Biometric Technology Rally to test what features are used to establish identity. They found that face biometrics algorithm, though not iris recognition algorithms, use features associated with race and gender. Similarity scores are higher for people of the same race or gender when compared with five leading facial recognition algorithms.
The researchers then propose a system for quantifying the use of features associated with race and gender and analyzed the possibility of removing these features from consideration. The algorithms’ performance was reduced, when they removed these features, according to the paper, but not below useful levels.
Most commercial face biometric algorithms do not appear to limit feature extraction or consideration to those not associated with race and gender, which the researchers speculate could be due to the use of deep convolutional neural networks, which have been known to take “shortcuts” by using correlated, but ultimately spurious data in object classification.
The use of certain features and balanced biometric reference galleries would represent a departure from the common current approach to bias reduction, the researchers point out, which focuses on delivering similar false match error rates for different demographic groups.
Biometric identification based on eye movement dynamic features
by Katarzyna Harezlak, Michal Blasiak, and Pawel Kasprowski
New research has come out looking at how eye movements can be used for biometric identification.
A team of researchers at the Silesian University of Technology in Poland found eye behaviors unique to 24 study participants. The behaviors were gleaned from how volunteers performed in experiments in which they had to follow a point racing around 29 locations on a screen.
The researchers evaluated four classification methods in tests with training datasets generated in different ways, and found that the random forest method offered the best overall performance. Next experimental steps are set out in the paper’s conclusion.
This is an arcane field of research that stretches back at least to 2005, with significant new work appearing in 2012, with increasingly great details being observed in decreasing fractions of a second.
Among the aspects of eye movement studied in the new report were eye velocity and acceleration as subjects chased after the points.
Scientists also looked at saccades, rapid, sudden movements during which no information is collected by the brain, and fixations, when eyes focus on an object. There is data to be gathered then, too, because eyes are not motionless even when staring at something. Those small movements, described as “gentle,” can be biometric identifiers.
The eye-tracking economic segment, which encompasses biometric security as well as gaming, automaking and health care roles, reportedly is growing. An eye-tracking virtual-reality headset that tracked eye movement, or signals, was introduced by Japanese startup Fove in 2016.
Research partnership to use iPhone biometrics to detect depression, cognitive decline
Apple is collaborating with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Biogen on new biometric capabilities for iPhones aimed at detecting depression and signs of cognitive decline via expression recognition and behavioral biometrics.
The collaboration was revealed by The Wall Street Journal, which would have learned about it after speaking with people familiar with the matter and reading documents related to the project.
The novel technology reportedly gathers physiological data of users from a variety of sensors, and it includes mobility, physical activity, sleep patterns, typing behavior, and more.
By simultaneously monitoring this biometric information, researchers are trying to pin down digital signals associated with the target conditions so that reliable algorithms can be created to consistently detect them.
The data gathered as part of the new tests will be compared against standard tests of brain health including traditional cognitive assessments and scans that track plaque buildup in the brain.
If deemed successful in detecting early signs of cognitive decline, the biometric technology may then be integrated into new iPhone models, to potentially address surging rates of depression and anxiety as well as other brain disorders.
Apple has not yet confirmed if the technology will actually make it to its devices, as it is still at an experimental stage.
However, the Cupertino-based company has intensified its health-related efforts in recent years, suggesting it will keep exploring technologies in this space.
In fact, this is not the first health biometrics monitoring collaboration between Apple and Biogen, with a similar one being unveiled in January this year.
According to the new documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal, the January study will last two years and follow 20,000 participants, half of whom are at high risk of cognitive impairment.
Main News:
Apple upgrades Face ID’s biometric presentation attack detection
Under-display Touch ID now expected in 2023
Stronger presentation attack detection for face biometrics has been unveiled by Apple, while the long-awaited launch of under-display Touch ID is still two years away, according to a pair of new reports.
Apple has improved the biometric spoof detection capabilities of its Face ID, iMore writes, citing an Apple Support document that explains a vulnerability in which “a 3D model constructed to look like the enrolled user may be able to authenticate via Face ID.”
The enhanced spoof detection is included in the iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 security updates, and applies to all devices running Face ID.
With the iPhone 13 just days away from reaching store shelves, noted iEverything-watcher Ming-Chi Kuo is predicting under-display Touch ID fingerprint biometrics to be included in devices launched in 2023, according to AppleInsider.
The one-year delay, along with a longer expected wait for a folding iPhone, will negatively impact iPhone shipments in 2022 and 2023, Kuo says.
Kuo suggested in June that Touch ID would be implemented under the screen of the iPhone 14, though the company was granted a patent for a camera to collect data for Face ID or Touch ID biometrics in July. The analyst has also predicted that 2023 iPhones will include under-display Face ID.
Apple granted a new facial recognition patent
The document has patent number 11,113,510 and describes “virtual templates for facial recognition.”
The technology allows users to capture specific biometric templates of their face, for instance, during an onboarding process, and then store them for later use during authentication actions.
“If the unlock image is successful in unlocking the device, the generated feature vectors may be stored as temporary templates in the device,” the text of the patent reads.
Additional temporary templates may be then added as the user continues to successfully unlock the device using the facial recognition authentication process.
According to the patent, after a certain number of temporary templates are added, the temporary templates may be assessed to calculate a “virtual” template from the temporary templates.
“The virtual template may be, for example, a median template in a cluster of the temporary templates in a feature space,” the patent explains.
The technology, which may be implemented as part of Face ID on iPhones and iPads in the future, aims to create a more secure authentication process by selecting an image that is the result of multiple photos taken of the user over a certain period of time.
It is not clear when or if Apple will actually implement the tech in future devices, but the patent and its developments are nonetheless interesting ones to follow.
Google rumored to bring back Face Unlock on Pixel 6
Google may bring back Face Unlock capabilities when it releases the Pixel 6, according to a recent Forbes post, which explains how Face Unlock was possible in the Pixel 4 thanks to the Soli radar chip, which was then replaced by a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner in the Pixel 5.
According to the article, the choice may have been caused by the necessity of reducing the smartphone’s cost, but also to counter the lack of mask detection capabilities in the Pixel 4 at the height of the pandemic.
The Pixel 6 should be a powerhouse, however, so the implementation of a Soli chip may be possible from a hardware perspective.
Moreover, Google has recently implemented the chip in its Nest Hub 2, showing the tech giant has not abandoned its developments.
Will Face Unlock make a return on the Pixel 6? We will find out soon enough, with Google’s new phones rumored to be announced at some point in October.
Meeami biometric solution featured in 10M phones
The company recently announced its Speaker ID technology and products are currently in production in over ten million smartphones.
A new version of Meeami’s flagship on-device biometric solution, which uses artificial intelligence-based deep learning technologies to uniquely identify and authenticate users in many scenarios, is now available as well.
Speaker ID also comes with MVNS (Multi-Variate Noise Suppression) capabilities, to identify and suppress many types of noises, according to the announcement.
“The uniqueness of Meeami Speaker ID is its robust performance in noisy conditions found at home and in-office environments,” explained Pankaj Joshi, head of Product at Meeami Technologies.
Meeami has reportedly tested Speaker ID to perform biometric phone unlocking, user login on PCs, multi-factor user authentication, and fraud detection for e-commerce purchases, bank transactions, and ATM cash withdrawals.
Precise Biometrics’ tech included in Vivo iQOO 8 Pro
The in-display fingerprint component is a collaboration between Precise Biometrics and Qualcomm Technologies.
The companies have integrated the Precise BioMatch algorithm with the Qualcomm in-display Fingerprint 3D Sonic Max Sensor through an existing partnership.
The first integration of the 3D Sonic Max Sensor is with the Vivo iQOO 8 Pro, a flagship smartphone released in China on August 26th, while the previously-announced integration with the Sharp AQUOS R6 smartphone is slated to reach the market later in September.
The 20x30mm fingerprint sensor is based on ultrasonic technology and is reportedly one of the largest in-display sensors on the market.
Its large size hints at improved efficiency when unlocking using a fingerprint (early tests suggest 0.2 seconds), as well as simultaneous scanning of two fingers for enhanced security, and scanning of fingerprints even when wet utilizing ultrasonic waves.
Knowles releases new Raspberry Pi Development Kit
The kit is designed to bring voice biometrics, audio edge processing, and ML listening capabilities to devices and systems in a variety of new industries.
The solution enables companies to streamline the design, development, and testing of voice and audio integration technologies.
The new development kit is built on Knowles’ AISonic IA8201 Audio Edge Processor OpenDSP created for ultralow-power and high-performance audio processing needs.
The processor features two Tensilica-based, audio-centric DSP cores. One of them for high-power compute and AI/ML applications, and the other for very low-power, always-on processing of sensor inputs.
Thanks to Knowles’ open DSP platform, the new kit has enabled access to a wide range of onboard audio algorithms and AI/ML libraries.
It also includes two microphone array boards to aid engineers to select the appropriate algorithm configurations for the end application.
Deep Vision raises $35M for biometrics applications
The AI processor chip maker recently announced that it raised $35 million in a Series B financing round, led by Tiger Global with the participation of Exfinity Venture Partners, SiliconMotion, and Western Digital.
The fresh funds will reportedly aid Deep Vision’s renewed efforts in the improvement of its patented AI processor ARA-1.
The hardware can be used as a face biometrics tool to deliver real-time video analytics. However, ARA-1 also supports NLP capabilities for several voice-controlled applications.
“To improve latency and reliability for voice and other cloud services, edge products such as drones, security cameras, robots, and smart retail applications are implementing complex and robust neural networks,” explained Linley Gwennap, principal analyst of The Linley Group.
Ambient Sound and NLP dedicated chipset on the rise
More than two billion devices will be shipped with a dedicated chipset for ambient sound or NLP by 2026, according to new data from ABI Research.
The figures come from the ‘Deep Learning-Based Ambient Sound and Language Processing: Cloud to Edge’ report, which highlights the state of deep learning-based ambient sound and NLP technologies across different industries.
According to the report, ambient sound and NLP will follow the same cloud-to-edge evolutionary path as machine vision.
“Through efficient hardware and model compression technologies, this technology now requires fewer resources and can be fully embedded in end devices,” explained Lian Jye Su, principal analyst for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at ABI Research.
According to the technology expert, many chipset vendors — including Qualcomm — are aware of this trend, and are now actively forming partnerships to boost their capabilities.
FaceTec upgrades face biometrics SDKs with OCR, document scanning features
A major new update of FaceTec’s data-sovereign biometric security platform has been unveiled, with optical character recognition (OCR) for photo IDs, as well as barcode and NFC-chip scanning.
The new version 9.4 of FaceTec’s Server SDK and the 3.9MB Device SDKs expand the face biometric technology’s capabilities with support for leading barcode formats including PDF417 and QR codes, OCR support for photo ID documents, including those in the Arabic language, and NFC scanning for biometric passports. The update also includes a refreshed user session dashboard with fields for OCR, barcode and NFC input, auto-capture for ID documents that FaceTec says is now faster and smarter, and improved stability and compatibility across the 3D FaceScan and ID Scan processes.
The Server SDK release notes also note the introduction of Cyrillic language support and 26 new OCR templates earlier in the month.
The new features are available free to all customers and partners of FaceTec.
“With the emergence of digital ID documents and mobile driver licenses (mDLs), we will all have the option to use our mobile devices as our official IDs quite soon,” states Kevin Alan Tussy, CEO of FaceTec. “And while, of course, we want that convenience, to make the process secure we need to ensure that only the legitimate person can possess that Digital ID by authenticating them as the correct human user. Our v9.4 was built entirely in-house by our incredibly talented development team, and provides the best possible experience for our customers and their users in this new digital identity frontier.”
Passwordless sign-in coming for all Microsoft accounts
Microsoft has announced that a feature enabling users to log into their accounts using more secure and convenient authentication methods, with passwordless multifactor authentication (MFA) rolling out in the coming weeks.
According to a blog post by the company’s Corporate Vice President of Identity, Joy Chik, the move is another step forward in the tech giant’s passwordless journey which has been on for the last couple of years.
When the system rolls out, Microsoft account users will have the option to either continue using their passwords (for those who already have them) or delete them. Also, a new account can be set up without any password, the article notes.
Chik explains that the passwordless account can be established in three easy steps by installing the Microsoft Authentication App and linking it to the account. After that, the user needs to go to the ‘Advanced Security Options’ and then choose ‘Passwordless Account’ to activate the feature. Passwordless authentication for Microsoft accounts can also be performed with MFA through Windows Hello biometrics, a security key, or an email or SMS-based verification code (or one-time password), Microsoft says.
The move, the post notes, is part of a four-step effort to make Microsoft accounts safe from hackers as well as avoid the inconveniences of having to retain complicated passwords.
The Humanode testnet is coming on September 28th
The Humanode testnet is coming this week. It will be an Aura and Grandpa testnet based on those two consensus modules of Substrate modified for biometric authentication which won’t require very high specifications for your hardware.
The participants will be able to go through a biometric enrollment process and become human nodes, validate blocks, send transactions and take part in the $100,000 anti-spoofing bounty program by FaceTec.
The team will be onboarding in batches, about 50 people each. The invitation will be sent out to the emails that users stated in the application. For those, who haven’t applied yet, sign up for the Humanode testnet here.
Truepic raises $26M to fight deepfakes and image fraud
Truepic has concluded the second round of funding that saw it raise $26 million to fuel its growth and develop its photo and video verification system, which can be used to detect ‘deepfake’ and ‘cheapfake’ images, according to The San Diego Union Tribune.
The funding, led by Microsoft’s venture capital arm M12 — with the participation of other companies such as Adobe, Sonny Innovation Fund, Hearst Ventures and Stone Point Capital — will help the camera technology startup, among other things, continue the development of a Software Development Kit (SDK) that would allow mobile developers to include its authentication system in their apps.
A beta version of the SDK is expected by the end of the year.
The company’s chief executive Jeffrey McGregor also stated that Truepic’s efforts are aimed at countering the growing distrust being generated around the authenticity of digital media because of the upward trend of synthetic photos and videos, especially in the form of deepfakes.
Explaining how Truepic works, Founder and President Craig Stack told The San Diego Union Tribune: “From the instant that light hits the camera sensor, we can secure the capture operation, so we know that the pixels, date, time and location are authentic. Then we seal that information into the file and can verify that what came out of the camera hasn’t been modified.”
Whoop gets intimate with biometric health-monitoring underwear
Whoop, a maker of wrist-worn fitness trackers and analysis software, has expanded into clothes with built-in biometrics readers.
The news comes weeks after the startup raised $200 million in a series F venture round that was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Whoop‘s newest round values it at $3.6 billion.
The apparel — leggings, athletic boxers, sports bras, shorts and compression tops — can take readings on wearers’ torso, calf and waist. There is an “Intimates Collection” with bralettes and around-the-office boxer shorts. Prices range from $54 to $109.
Perhaps looking to Apple’s penchant for control, the unicorn is making the clothing, not contracting it out, according to Front Office Sports.
Its sensors pick up a number of biometric signals, including a pulse oximeter, skin temperature sensor and the clothing includes a so-called health monitor, which can track those indicators as well as heart and respiratory rates.
Apple and Facebook are among the many players in this market segment.
A Whoop membership, which includes a coaching platform, is required for automated analysis of biometric readings, for $18 per month.
The new line comes as company executives begin implementing expanded R&D budgets for wearable technology paid for by the new venture funding. Company executives say they will enter new markets and seek acquisitions.
NEC claims to win in NIST iris biometrics accuracy test
New iris recognition accuracy benchmarking from NIST is out, and NEC has claimed the top accuracy rate, at 99.59 percent for 1:N identification for images with both eyes from 500,000 people.
The IREX 10 test conducted by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology evaluated 9 iris recognition algorithms from seven developers, benchmarking biometric identification accuracy with both two eyes and one eye. Neurotechnology scored the most accurate result with one eye.
In recent years, NEC has used its artificial intelligence capabilities to refine its iris recognition technology’s performance with the lower-quality images commonly captured in operational environments, according to the announcement. This, the company says, has caused a significant improvement in the algorithms’ error rate.
NEC plans to develop ‘walkthrough’ style solutions with its iris biometrics, in combination with its face biometrics, for highly accurate multi-modal authentication. This approach will provide effective contactless authentication even when users are wearing masks and caps.
The company notes it has also scored high marks for accuracy in NIST face biometrics testing.
Rank One face biometric accuracy leaps in latest NIST benchmarking
Rank One Computing has reported a 30 to 40 percent leap in accuracy in the latest NIST FRVT ongoing benchmarking, achieving 99.12 percent biometric matching accuracy when the False Match Rate is set to 1 in 1,000,000.
“The accuracy of this algorithm is representative of how powerful ROC’s AI/ML face recognition has become on diverse imagery, with accuracy measured on persons from around the world,” said Scott Swann, ROC’s CEO, in a release celebrating what the company claims is unmatched biometric accuracy.
“The result of this unparalleled accuracy and efficiency is simple: there is almost no FR application that ROC’s algorithm cannot support.”
Rank One’s algorithm came in the top 20 percent of all biometrics vendors in seven of the eight benchmarks accuracy metrics and, of course, is slated to improve further. Dr. Brendan Klare, ROC’s chief scientist, indicates that “this new release is the first in a promising new line of algorithm R&D being pursued by Rank One and includes several new SDK enhancements and features.”
Another new algorithm release at the start of 2022 is poised to deliver further reductions in error rates, while a new research paper on facial recognition finds that more work across the board is needed to remove biases beyond the known demographic differentials such as for ethnicity and gender.
IriTech and Partron partner on iris biometrics for mixed reality applications
IriTech and electronic component provider Partron Co. Ltd. have announced a new partnership that will focus on the development of a camera module featuring both iris identification and eye-tracking capabilities.
The camera sensor will also integrate infrared (IR) LEDs, and is aimed at supporting augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) applications which could be used in forthcoming Metaverse-based applications from firms such as Facebook and Microsoft.
As part of the new collaboration, Partron will manufacture the camera module’s hardware, while IriTech will develop the device’s iris biometrics capabilities.
“IriTech has possessed key software components needed for a successful AR/VR/MR device,” said IriTech CEO Dr. Daehoon Kim, commenting on the news. “With Partron’s expertise in camera sensor and optics design, we will be able to offer them in a compact and complete hardware and software package for optimal performance and cost.”
Tech5 and Imageware integrate biometrics portfolios, unveil first joint customer win
Tech5 and Imageware have come together to develop a combined biometric solution for the marine and visitor management industries, and formed a portfolio integration partnership.
Imageware becomes a value-added-reseller (VAR) of Tech5’s biometric technology, which will be integrated across Imageware’s product line, including Imageware Proof, Imageware Authenticate, Imageware Identify and the Imageware Biometric Engine. Tech5 will provide biometric algorithms and matching platforms for face, iris, and fingerprint recognition, according to the announcement, as well as touchless fingerprint capture and digital ID solutions.
Visitor management solutions provider SISCO will be among the first to deploy the combined biometric technology, with Imageware supplying it with biometric identity management capabilities for its portfolio of ship and visitor management solutions for maritime and security companies. Imageware will provide facial recognition powered by Tech5’s algorithm for SISCO’s mobile solutions offered to the cruises line industry for use in onboarding and emergency muster situations.
SISCO provides technology to roughly 40 percent of the cruise line industry, according to the announcement.
Integrated Biometrics plans integration of touchless fingerprint enhancements
Sciometrics, strategic partner of Integrated Biometrics, has filed for patents on technology to improve image quality for touchless fingerprint biometrics captured on mobile devices.
The companies plan to integrate the new technology into IB’s Slapshot Touchless SDK product.
The patent applications were filed with both the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and The European Patent Office, with one addressing the improvement of touchless fingerprints through minimizing error rates to below 2 percent to meet the FBI’s PIV requirements, ‘smart’ focussing, and enhanced image rendering to capture Level 3 features like pores and ridge shapes. The methods described by this patent result in touchless fingerprints with a strong resemblance to contact prints, according to the announcement. A second patent filing describes the concept of “archived identity,” with the fingerprint serving as a transaction record.
The company is also supporting the City of London Police counterterrorism initiative Project Servator with its portable fingerprint biometric scanners, according to a LinkedIn post.
Under Project Servator, highly visible deployments of police will show up unannounced to conduct patrols in various locations, but not linked to specific threat intelligence. These deployments will utilize a range of resources, some of which will be highly visible, and others of which, including automated number plate recognition and CCTV devices, may be less visible.
Austin GIS launched to support computer vision IaaS with $6M from Vsblty, others
SaaS-based software technology company Vsblty is one of five founding partners of new startup Austin GIS, formed to focus on large Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) projects involving the internet of things (IoT) and 5G radio access networking (RAN).
IaaS is an increasingly popular way to finance large IT infrastructure projects, and Austin GIS will address the market for large-scale infrastructure in support of computer vision and machine learning.
Philadelphia-based Vsblty will contribute retail analytics and computer vision technology to the startup in an exclusive provider arrangement and will focus on enabling Device as a Service, Retail Analytics as a Service, and Smart City Analytics as a Service. Vsblty’s retail offerings include facial recognition application Vector for enhanced security.
With $6 million in seed investment; $1.25 million each from Indian technology companies HCL and Tech Mahindra, $1 million from Vsblty, and a further $2.5 million from two other companies who will be named at a later date, one of them a member of the Fortune 500.
Amazon brings palm recognition system to Red Rock Amphitheatre
Amazon is moving forward with its plans to expand its Amazon One palm recognition system. The service can now be used for contactless entry at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Denver, Colorado, and will soon become available at other concert venues across the United States.
The service is being delivered in collaboration with AEG, which runs the AXS ticketing platform. In addition to Red Rock, AEG has partnerships with more than 350 concert sites internationally, any one of which could now be a future Amazon One venue thanks to the new partnership.
In the meantime, concertgoers visiting Red Rock will be able to enroll in the Amazon One system at a kiosk deployed at the venue. Those who do opt in will enjoy a faster entry process, since there will be a dedicated lane for Amazon One guests.
These Weeks’ News by Categories
Access Control:
- Passwordless sign-in coming for all Microsoft accounts
- Liminal and Ping Identity surveys highlight passwordless authentication trends
- Legacy MFA methods common for new device logins: Incognia app friction report
- Queensland Police deploy devices with face biometrics to stop drunk drivers
- Precise Biometrics wins YOUNiQ customers for senior’s monitoring, office access control
- Biometric smart locks set to grow with FPC partnership, Assa Abloy acquisition
- Alcatraz AI promotes touchless biometric authentication with a free trial
- How not to trust, the end of passwords and controlled illumination: biometrics at the EIC
- Landgrab shapes up in event biometrics market with new Amazon, Clear partnerships
- CISA could get $856M funding, pledges to help US agencies go zero trust
Consumer Electronics:
- Research partnership to use iPhone biometrics to detect depression, cognitive decline
- Apple upgrades Face ID’s biometric presentation attack detection
- Queensland Police deploy devices with face biometrics to stop drunk drivers
- Passwordless sign-in coming for all Microsoft accounts
- New phone biometrics patent for Apple as Meeami, Precise announce integrations
Financial Services:
- Landgrab shapes up in event biometrics market with new Amazon, Clear partnerships
- Canadian report considers biometrics, ID banks to improve financial inclusion
- Revelock and CaixaBank co-develop behavioral biometrics-based fraud detection solution
- iDenfy, Veriff, IDmission reveal selfie biometrics partnerships
- Trust Stamp tokenized biometrics for Mastercard financial inclusion initiative
- BioCatch brings behavioral biometrics to partner program for banks and credit unions
- Zwipe partners for faster biometric payment card deployment in Middle East, Africa
- Alexa voice biometrics to be integrated into touchless purchases across India
- Make businesses performing KYC into digital identity providers, GAIN white paper proposes
- PopID and Bobacino to deliver face biometrics payments to robot baristas
Civil / National ID:
- Physical start for digital ID and cryptograph wrappers at Identity Week Day 2
- Groups call on Mexico to abandon biometric digital ID proposal
- SIA promotes digital ID document verification techniques amid expanded issuance
- UL develops compliance program for mobile driver’s license tools
- Tessi scales up with Smart Engines’ digital ID document processing
- Digital ID infrastructure broadens economies, worth the effort — panel
- Digital identity trust frameworks — could ID-free UK show the way?
- Aadhaar biometrics allegedly targeted by Chinese state-sponsored hacker group
- Amadeus signs up Lufthansa for digital health pass integration
- UK to introduce learners’ mobile driving licenses
- Bangladesh digital ID registration to include biometrics
- Enhancing digital IDs for Canadian tribes; still shipping paper documents in the U.S.
- Nigerian President wants centralized biometric database before 2023 Polls
- Biometrics basis for massive financial inclusion project reflects privacy prioritization
- Digital identity evaluation tools to be turned on Africa
- Turing Institute on Trustworthy Digital Identity: is the medium overshadowing the message?
- Just 16 years after Real ID rules were mandated, U.S. states almost getting it right
- Jamaican leaders long on eID promises, short on assurances of fairness
- Clear digital health pass reach grows, CoWIN launches API
- Digital ID status update for Nigeria and Rwanda: new technology, data law
- International ID Day 2021 seeks mainstream recognition with art, friends and tokenization
- International ID Day 2021: beyond the core and ID as an ‘existential right’
Government Services & Elections:
- Aware CCO pitches NIST Digital Identity Guidelines at Identity Week
- Groups call on Mexico to abandon biometric digital ID proposal
- Digital ID infrastructure broadens economies, worth the effort — panel
- Digital identity trust frameworks — could ID-free UK show the way?
- Aadhaar biometrics allegedly targeted by Chinese state-sponsored hacker group
- Bangladesh digital ID registration to include biometrics
- NGI delivers faster results from more biometric modalities with no shopping mall storage
- Nigerian President wants centralized biometric database before 2023 Polls
- Just 16 years after Real ID rules were mandated, U.S. states almost getting it right
- Jamaican leaders long on eID promises, short on assurances of fairness
- Surveillance skeptic nominated to U.S. Federal Trade Commission
- UK plans $550M budget for government digital identity update
- Kenya’s private sector can push digital identity drive: Estonian leader
- Fed surveillance oversight board stuck in neutral, Biden busy elsewhere
- Evaluation ordered of biometric screening of displaced Afghans
- Ontario plans SSI-based digital ID by fall, Liquid Avatar lauds the use of open standards
- Move by Liberia to introduce biometrics in 2023 elections meets stonewall
- Liberian Senate seeks consensus on introduction of biometrics for 2023 election
Facial Recognition:
- Multi-spectral face biometrics, emotion recognition and deepfakes discussed at EAB seminar
- Alfi says no ethnicity recognition on Uber, Lyft tablets
- DHS suggests face biometrics bias reduction method, quantifies demographic effects
- Certify Health face biometrics integrated by Elo to improve patient management
- Public facial recognition so far penned in by trust issues in the UK and Ireland
- Presentation attack detection might not suffer from gender bias
- Spanish port pilots 5G-enabled facial recognition surveillance
- Precise Biometrics wins YOUNiQ customers for senior’s monitoring, office access control
- UN rights report calls for moratorium on remote biometrics in public
- Rank One face biometric accuracy leaps in latest NIST benchmarking
- UK panel sketches the reach of ethnicity recognition systems across China
- Alcatraz AI promotes touchless biometric authentication with free trial
- NtechLab contracted by Indian Railways to deploy facial recognition at 30 stations
- PopID and Bobacino to deliver face biometrics payments to robot baristas
- Will Washington-Beijing competition entice biometrics unicorns home?
- Brahmarsk launches face biometrics API tolerant of pandemic-related occlusions
Fingerprint Recognition:
- Firstface lawsuit win over Apple for iPhone unlocking infringement upheld
- Baltimore criticized for forensic biometrics delays, federal tribal program expands
- Biometric smart locks set to grow with FPC partnership, Assa Abloy acquisition
- Zwipe partners for faster biometric payment card deployment in Middle East, Africa
- Idemia unveils SaaS ABIS to bring fingerprint biometrics to smaller agencies
- Integrated Biometrics plans integration of touchless fingerprint enhancements
Iris / Eye Recognition:
- NEC claims to win in NIST iris biometrics accuracy test
- A win for spotting synthetic faces but deepfake blue videos get easier to make
- IriTech and Partron partner on iris biometrics for mixed reality applications
Voice Biometrics:
- Edge voice dev kit, funding revealed as market for NLP-focused hardware grows
- Gnani.ai launches no-code voice biometrics for fraud prevention
- Ingressio time and attendance app features voice biometrics from ID R&D
- Alexa voice biometrics to be integrated in touchless purchases across India
- Neoris, Veridas partner to offer voice biometrics for banking sector
Behavioral Biometrics:
- Prove passive authentication with gait, motion biometrics reaches global availability
- BioCatch to offer behavioral biometrics to expanding Indian market with Microsoft deal
- Revelock and CaixaBank co-develop behavioral biometrics-based fraud detection solution
- BioCatch brings behavioral biometrics to partner program for banks and credit unions
Wearables:
- Whoop gets intimate with biometric health-monitoring underwear
- Can a consumer biometric wearable warn the USAF about infection?
Mobile Biometrics:
- Prove passive authentication with gait, motion biometrics reaches global availability
- Anonybit decentralized biometrics integrated into Abine password manager
- Selfie biometrics deployments from a public agency to popular video game
- FaceTec upgrades face biometrics SDKs with OCR, document scanning features
- Tech5 digital ID tool, partner program to speed biometrics adoption launched
- Legacy MFA methods common for new device logins: Incognia app friction report
- UK to introduce learners’ mobile driving licenses
- Techsign secures funding to deliver biometric authentication, KYC services beyond Turkey
- iDenfy, Veriff, IDmission reveal selfie biometrics partnerships
- Enhancing digital IDs for Canadian tribes; still shipping paper documents in the U.S.
- Daon partners on cross-channel biometric authentication modernization initiative
- FIDO authentication forecast to surpass $565M by 2031 for security, UX, fraud prevention
- Biometrics basis for massive financial inclusion project reflects privacy prioritization
- Onfido, Au10tix tout many millions saved with biometrics and fraud prevention tools
- RealNetworks extends mask detection to plug-and-play kiosk
- Clear digital health pass reach grows, CoWIN launches API
- New selfie biometrics customers for GetID and Trueface, solutions from Socure and Equifax
- UK Post Office-Yoti biometrics tie-up allows users to buy ‘regulated crypto’ via Swarm
- The devilish details of digital health passes in an atmosphere of urgency, uncertainty
Biometrics Industry Events
OFSEC — Oman Fire, Safety & Security Exhibition: Oct 1, 2021 — Oct 2, 2021
Digital Trust World 2021: Oct 4, 2021 — Oct 7, 2021
World Border Security Congress: Oct 5, 2021 — Oct 7, 2021
Biometrics Institute Congress: Oct 6, 2021 — Oct 26, 2021
IFINTEC Finance Technologies Conference and Exhibition: Oct 12, 2021 — Oct 13, 2021
Identity India 2021: Oct 28, 2021 — Oct 29, 2021
4th World Conference and Exhibition on Forensic Science: Nov 4, 2021 — Nov 6, 2021
Border Management & Technologies Summit Europe:Nov 8, 2021 — Nov 10, 2021
EAB workshop on face image quality: Nov 16, 2021 — Nov 18, 2021
Security Exhibition & Conference 2021: Nov 17, 2021 — Nov 19, 2021
Egypt Defence Expo (EDEX): Nov 29, 2021 — Dec 2, 2021
Future of Digital Onboarding and Customer Experience: Dec 1, 2021 — Dec 2, 2021
ENBANTEC Retail Banking Conference EMEA: Dec 8, 2021 — Dec 9, 2021
LEAP | Global Tech Event In Saudi Arabia: Feb 1, 2022 — Feb 3, 2022
Border Management & Technologies Summit Asia: Mar 15, 2022 — Mar 17, 2022
Critical Infrastructure Protection & Resilience Europe: Mar 15, 2022 — Mar 17, 2022
GISEC 2022: Mar 21, 2022 — Mar 23, 2022
Secure ID Forum; May 24, 2022 — May 26, 2022
Showcase Australia 2022: May 25, 2022
The Biometrics Institute’s calendar of events for 2021:
MISC
The next EAB virtual lunch talk on October 5 will address bias mitigation in anti-spoofing technologies.
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