TL;DR
- AnyVision has raised $235 million to expand the reach of its AI-based facial recognition technology. The round was led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 and Eldridge, with The Wall Street Journal reporting the funding values of the Tel Aviv-based company at over $1 billion. AnyVision’s crowd-scanning software interacts with footage from cameras at places like airports, border crossings and stadiums. The company says the product can identify suspected criminals or people on watch lists.
- The Federal Communications Commission last week granted Amazon’s three-week-old wish to use radar to monitor its customers’ sleep. The company wants to create an “unlicensed radar device.”
- Psychologists from UNSW Sydney have developed a new face identification ability test that will help find facial recognition experts for a variety of police and government agencies, including contact tracing.
- CyberArk Labs tests biometric presentation attacks against Windows Hello.
- The latest Apple patent extension filing suggests Touch ID biometrics on the iPhone power button.
- Oracle finds a biometric onboarding partner in Everest.
- TypingDNA launches a behavioral biometrics tool for the mood to beta.
- Idex Biometrics and Infineon integrate security controllers and BSoC to simplify biometric card production.
- CyberLink and ASUS partner on facial recognition for integrated edge solution.
- Five9 simplifies voice biometrics development for virtual call center agents.
- Zighra granted a behavioral biometrics patent to extend mobile passwordless access.
- Fime confirms Sybrin passive biometric liveness detection meets PAD standards.
- GlobalPlatform ISO 17065-accredited to issue cybersecurity certifications.
- BIO-key’s PalmPositive solution gets a technology innovation award.
- Easing biometrics implementation draws $12M Series B for Vu, $1.6M Seed round for HelloFlow.
- Biometrics investments roll on with $7M for Smile Identity, up to $8.7M for Daltrey.
- Alcatraz, Wicket win touchless biometric access control clients, Active Witness launches the scanner.
- Idemia touchless biometrics integrated by Bosch for secure access control.
- FaceTec prevails in ‘Zoom’ trademark case.
- Apiture selects Enacomm to deliver voice biometrics for online banking.
- Cerence expands the voice biometrics payments ecosystem with the addition of ryd pay.
- The Canadian government has issued a Request for Information as it looks to update the biometric identification system that it uses to screen immigrants and other foreign nationals.
- More selfie biometrics could ease government and financial service access in the UK, Australia, US.
- U.S. watchdog wants law enforcement to follow basic biometrics rules to build trust.
- Ethnicity recognition was found among Russian face biometrics providers’ features.
- Biometric gates reduce airport touchpoints in Czech Republic, Bangladesh, Finland.
- Hong Kong ‘exploring collaboration’ with Mainland digital identity systems.
- Sri Lanka partners with MOSIP to develop its digital ID ecosystem.
- Indian govt using face biometrics at COVID vaccination centers.
- Australian biometrics providers partner up for responsible gambling systems.
- DHS biometric privacy test of face-obscuring AI is more of a pop quiz.
- Replace passwords with biometrics, Incognia suggests in a new Mobile App Friction Report.
- Biometrics market forecast for $44B by 2026, industry survey sees digital identity focus, according to the latest industry survey from the Biometrics Institute.
- Allied Market Research (AMR) has released a new report that suggests that the e-passport market will explode in the next few years. The firm specifically predicts that the market will jump from $24.57 billion in 2019 to $125.13 billion in 2028, a figure that represents a CAGR of 27.5 percent for the period between 2021 and 2028.
- 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 Researches:
GFMT2: A psychometric measure of face matching ability
by David White, Daniel Guilbert, Victor P. L. Varela, Rob Jenkins, A. Mike Burton in Behavior Research Methods
Psychologists from UNSW Sydney have developed a new face identification ability test that will help find facial recognition experts for a variety of police and government agencies, including contract tracing.
The Glasgow Face Matching Test 2 [GFMT2] targets high-performing facial recognition individuals known as super-recognisers, who have an extraordinary ability to memorise and recall faces.
The type of professional roles that involve face identification and that could benefit from the test include visa processors, passport issuers, border control officers, police, contract tracers, as well as security staff in private industry.
“Being able to recognise faces of friends and family is a skill that most of us take for granted,” Scientia Fellow Dr David White from UNSW Science’s School of Psychology says. “But comparing images of unfamiliar faces and deciding if they show the same person is a task that most of our participants find challenging, even passport officers with many years of experience in the task. A major finding in our field in recent years has been that some people are much better than others at identifying faces from photographs. This is an insight that has changed the way staff are recruited, for example passport and police officers.”
The lead investigator at UNSW Sydney’s Face Research Lab says the GFMT2 test is valuable for identifying super-recognisers who have been used by the London Metropolitan Police Service in criminal investigations, and famously in the alleged poisoning of former Russian spies in Salisbury.
The GFMT2 test, an expanded version of the original Glasgow Face Matching Test which was launched ten years ago, has been published in the journal Behavior Research Methods. It was developed in collaboration with the University of York and the Australian Passport Office.
Dr White says the current test involves matching faces across changes that make face identification difficult in real-world tasks. “For example when matching CCTV to mugshot images, there may be changes in head angle, subject-to-camera distance, image quality and expression,” he says. It also includes tests that target low-performing face recognition individuals such as people with prosopagnosia, or ‘face blindness’.
The improved test comes as the federal government has been considering the introduction of a centralised database that would host photos collected by a range of state and federal agencies, including police charge and passport photos, immigration documents, and driver’s licenses. One of the criticisms of the database proposal has been that face recognition software is prone to large amounts of errors that has resulted in wrongful arrests. “This technology shows close matches to a suspect on a screen, and so human error at that stage can have serious implications,” Dr. White says.
But super-recognisers revealed by GFMT2 can be used to review identity matches made by facial recognition software and help prevent false identity matches, he says. “This new test is especially important in this day and age, where facial recognition software is increasingly used as a search engine in police investigation and security settings,” he says. “It is far more promising than training people to have these face identification skills. Our recent work suggests that current professional training courses in face identification do not improve people’s performance.”
The test will be able to be used in a number of countries including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Canada.
All tests are available free for scientific use: http://forensic.psy.unsw.edu.au/gfmt2.html
CyberArk Labs tests biometric presentation attacks against Windows Hello
Cybersecurity research firm CyberArk Labs has revealed data from its latest experiment focusing on a successful spoofing attempt of Windows Hello biometrics-powered systems.
Describing the findings in a blog post, CyberArk said it had discovered a new design flaw in Windows Hello that would potentially allow attackers to bypass the platform’s facial recognition capabilities altogether.
The attack reportedly works through the injection of a target’s face photo via a custom-made USB camera.
Once the camera is connected to the computer, the spoofed image is injected into the authenticating host, which ‘believes’ the device to be its main camera, and the photo contained in it is a live image.
Through this process, CyberArk researchers were able to get around Windows Hello’s face biometric check entirely.
Writing in the blog post, CyberArk clarified that, while the attack was tested against a Windows Hello for Business system, any platform that allows a pluggable third-party USB camera to act as a biometric sensor could be potentially susceptible to this attack.
“At the heart of this vulnerability lies the fact that Windows Hello allows external data sources, which can be manipulated, as a root of trust,” the post reads.
The findings also showed that any USB device can be cloned, potentially impersonating any other USB device.
Main Development News:
Biometrics market forecast for $44B by 2026, industry survey sees digital identity focus
Biometrics industry development over the next five years will be focused primarily on digital identity, according to the latest industry survey from the Biometrics Institute.
The overall global biometrics market is expected to grow rapidly from $19.5 billion last year to $44.1 billion by 2026, a compound annual growth rate of 14.8 percent, according to a new market study from Global Industry Analysts.
Over 90 percent of respondents to the Institute survey say biometrics will be a key to anchoring digital identity, and that growth trends in mobile identity verification and remote onboarding will be sustained.
Biometrics Institute Chief Executive Isabelle Moeller noted that questions on digital health passes and biometrics are included in this year’s edition of the survey, and will be further explored at the upcoming Biometrics Institute Congress online in October.
“As privacy concerns continue to be seen as the main barrier to the adoption of biometrics, and legislation; regulation; standards and testing all struggle to keep pace with technology, the Institute has an important role to play in continuing to bring diverse stakeholders together to discuss these issues,” Moeller says. “Our biannual Privacy Guidelines Paper which reflects the global changes in technology and legislation which impact privacy was updated in May.”
The Institute also asked what areas biometric should not have been implemented for, with the top responses being social media and politics (37 percent), followed by the school administration (26 percent) and birth registration (24 percent).
Biometric passports expected to help drive $125.13 billion e-Passport market
Allied Market Research (AMR) has released a new report that suggests that the e-passport market will explode in the next few years. The firm specifically predicts that the market will jump from $24.57 billion in 2019 to $125.13 billion in 2028, a figure that represents a CAGR of 27.5 percent for the period between 2021 and 2028.
Much of that growth can be attributed to recent technological advancements, both at the airport and in identity verification more generally. The technology allows border agents to spot imposters and is easier to implement with modern screening infrastructure.
However, AMR warned that the high cost of implementation will slow the rollout of e-passports in some parts of the world. COVID-19 also had a significant negative impact on the market, since travel restrictions mitigated the demand (and the need) for travel documents. Thankfully, international travel is expected to increase as vaccines become more readily available.
RFID passports were the most common type of passport in 2019, representing the majority (more than 75 percent) of the total market. That is likely to shift in the next few years, with the biometric passport segment growing at the fastest rate with a CAGR of 29.5 percent. Two-thirds of those new 2019 passports were acquired for leisure travel, though the business travel segment will grow more quickly (a CAGR of 29.3 percent) in the forecast window.
Latest Apple patent extension filing suggests Touch ID biometrics on the iPhone power button
Future iPhone releases may follow the iPad Air’s lead by integrating Touch ID biometrics in the power button, Patently Apple writes.
A continuation patent application has been published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office covering Touch ID fingerprint biometrics implemented on a power button. The original patent was filed in 2017 and granted in 2019.
The application covers ‘Devices, Methods, and Graphical User Interfaces for Providing a Home Button Replacement,’ and adds 19 new claims to the 42 contained in a patent the USPTO granted Apple in 2019. The original patent did not specify that the button implementing a fingerprint sensor for Touch ID was a power button, but the continuation does.
The 19 new claims relate mostly to the method of implementation and the electronic device and describe fingerprint authentication as a first step towards unlocking and the last step towards locking the iDevice.
The application describes the advantages of a home button, and the disadvantage of to display area from placing the button on the front of the device. The work-around proposed by Apple is to move at least some functions of the home button, including Touch ID, to the power button.
The described electronic device could also include Face ID biometrics.
There has been speculation that Touch ID could eventually move under the display of iPhones, but Apple has also been applying for IP to back Touch ID on Mac keyboards. Biometrics appear to play a key part in Apple’s push to move beyond passwords.
Amazon gets the go-ahead to track your sleep with radar
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission gave the e-commerce giant clearance to create bedside radar devices meant to track how we toss and turn at night. And while Amazon’s putting the best face possible on the innovation, it’s still all about those ad dollars.
Bloomberg was first to notice the agency had quietly filed a memo that authorized the e-commerce giant to develop and deploy an “unlicensed radar device” meant to track any nearby movement. This was in response to an initial request that Amazon filed with the agency nearly three weeks ago, where the company described its vision for “Radar Sensors”. These devices, Amazon said, would fire high-frequency radio waves to map out movements from anyone nearby.
And because the FCC is the federal body responsible for policing the airwaves, Amazon was legally obligated to get their go-ahead before they began marketing this yet-to-be-licensed radar device.
“By capturing motion in a three-dimensional space, a Radar Sensor can capture data in a manner that enables touchless device control,” Amazon wrote. “As a result, users can engage with a device and control its features through simple gestures and movements.”
This kind of touchless device control, Amazon went on to explain, could be a godsend for disabled or elderly customers who can’t use the company’s bevy of voice-powered assistants because they’re unable to speak. And Amazon’s absolutely right. Despite the ever-growing list of privacy and security concerns packaged with Echos and Alexas, we’ve already seen that these devices can be life-changing for people who are blind or wheelchair-bound. Amazon’s done its best to make these devices just as accessible for folks that are deaf or speech impaired, but there’s only so much you can do when these tools are based on voice.
“These devices would enable users to estimate sleep quality based on movement patterns,” Amazon wrote in the initial filing. “The use of Radar Sensors in sleep tracking could improve awareness and management of sleep hygiene, which in turn could produce significant health benefits for many Americans.”
Amazon’s pitch sounds nearly identical to those from the countless sleepy startups with names like Beddit or SleepScore that traffic in the realm of “nearables.” As you can probably guess from the name, these are the sorts of sleep trackers that sit on your bedside table or your pillow while you’re sleeping (instead of on your wrist) and monitor your mid-sleep movements to see how ~restful~ your rest actually was. It makes sense in theory, but extrapolating someone’s sleep quality from their general movements is super controversial among die-hards in the sleep research community. Critics will point out that data pulled by nearby radars can be inconsistent — or completely wrong in some cases — and those working in the field will openly agree that the sleep-tech industry needs to standardize its scoring systems.
In other words, the “significant health benefits” that Amazon promised the FCC when juicing its sleep-tracking radar tech might have been a bit of an exaggeration.
Oracle finds a biometric onboarding partner in Everest
The financial services unit of business software pioneer Oracle Corp. is working with another fintech company to sell blockchain services to retailers, corporate bankers, and insurers.
Although the announcement scarcely mentions biometrics, combining that sector with blockchain could make onboarding and other ID authentication and verification tasks more secure.
Indeed, the blockchain firm, Everest, markets EverID, the company’s native biometric ID software. Everest has a decentralized platform that includes what the firm calls a “massively” scalable payment product called EverChain.
Meanwhile, Oracle‘s Financial Services Software unit brings commerce experience and clients.
Reuters, having spoken to Everest’s CEO, reported that the relationship will enable banks using Oracle software to verify customer credentials and ship that data to Everest’s blockchain and biometrics platform.
One of its other partners is the ID2020 Alliance, a public-private group of some of the world’s biggest digital ID-focused organizations, pushing for digital ID standards. A 2018 pilot project involving ID2020 and Everest helped provide energy subsidies and digital services to people without requiring a smartphone.
CyberLink and ASUS partner on facial recognition for integrated edge solution
CyberLink and ASUS have announced a new partnership focusing on the development of a facial recognition-powered integrated solution.
As part of the new collaboration, CyberLink’s FaceMe artificial intelligence (AI)-powered facial recognition engine will be embedded in the ASUS Tinker Board 2 single-board computer (SBC).
The resulting solution will provide biometric security capabilities for access control, visitor management, and contactless experience, among others.
The algorithms behind CyberLink’s FaceMe SDK (software development kit) are among the most precise in the industry, scoring in the top ten vendors globally for true acceptance rate (TAR) in a recent NIST test.
The platform is also optimized for ARM-based integrated circuits and Android, and can deliver both real-time face detection and extraction.
“Facial recognition is one of the most popular technologies powering an exponentially growing set of IoT [Internet of Things] solutions in a booming market,” explained CyberLink CEO Dr. Jau Huang.
TypingDNA launches behavioral biometrics tool for the mood to beta
Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions provider TypingDNA has launched a beta of its Focus behavioral biometrics tool.
The solution uses the company’s patent-pending typing biometrics technology, analyzing typing patterns to discover when individuals are most focused, tired, stressed, happy, energetic, or calm.
According to TypingDNA, by using the technology, workers will be able to leverage its information to better plan daily activities and improve productivity and mental health. Focus is referred to by the company as a “fitness tracker for the mind.”
The Focus beta also provides access to a typing activity dashboard, to enable mood tracking throughout the day based on typing patterns.
In a blog post describing the new solution, TypingDNA clarified Focus does not require manual input, instead of running in the background.
The app was first unveiled in December 2020, and through the company’s Public Research program, has so far reportedly learned more than two million biometric data points that were used to create mood prediction models and related statistics.
Officially entering its beta version means Focus is now fully available to those macOS users who participated in the Public Research program.
Other macOS users will now be able to unlock additional moods by inviting five friends to join the desktop app, while a Windows version is reportedly under development.
In addition, the TypingDNA team said it is also working on a mobile version.
Zighra granted a behavioral biometrics patent to extend mobile passwordless access
Zighra has announced the approval of a new behavioral biometrics patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Issued under Patent №11,057,413, the document describes a password elimination process based on continuous biometric authentication for multiple applications and cloud services.
The new patent, which brings the total number of issued and pending patents to 16 for Zighra, potentially expanding the capabilities of the SensifyID platform.
For context, SensifyID is Zighra’s flagship product and combines insights from generative behavior models and biological systems to deliver fast and dynamically adaptable authentication.
In addition, Zighra’s fraud detection and developer SDK (software development kit) products are able to determine user identity entirely on the user’s device, with no sensor data leaving the device.
Idex Biometrics and Infineon integrate security controller and BSoC to simplify biometric card production
Idex Biometrics and Infineon have partnered to develop a reference design for the architecture of next-generation biometric smart cards.
The reference design combines the latest version of Idex’ TrustedBio biometric-system-on-chip (BSoC) and Infineon’s new SLC38BML800 security controller and additional GPIO interfaces. The combination delivers low-latency fingerprint authentication with high accuracy and power efficiency, according to the announcement, while the integration of the biometric sensor, secure element, power management and communications components reduces manufacturing complexity to lower costs and reduce time to market.
The partners are targeting the biometric payment card market forecast to reach 353 million units a year by 2025 by ABI Research in a late-2020 report.
“This new design provides significant improvements at the card system level, which allow easy integration into existing hot lamination card manufacturing processes. Therefore, the architecture increases card performance, while reducing manufacturing complexity at the same time,” states Tolgahan Yildiz, head of the Payment and Ticketing Solutions product line at Infineon. “The additional interfaces and the energy efficiency of our security controller allow industrialization of high performance biometric smart cards. This fingerprint solution is yet another proof point for our continuous innovation to enable easy to use, easy to integrate, highly accurate and cost effective biometric smart cards.”
TrustedBio provides fingerprint images capable of highly accurate authentication results for payment applications in terms of false rejections, false acceptance, and presentation attack detection performance, Idex says, and the SLC38BML800 returns transaction results within 500 milliseconds which the companies say is market-leading speed. The SLC38BML800 is also adaptable for ID and logical and physical access control applications, Infineon says.
Five9 simplifies voice biometrics development for virtual call center agents
Five9 is extending voice biometrics and real-time speech analytics capabilities provided by its partners to its intelligent cloud contact center platform to support low-code development of Five9 Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVAs).
The enhanced no-code development platform Inference Studio platform now includes a new user interface designed to maximize developer best practices, faster IVA task loading and support for larger applications, a customized development process for WhatsApp and other messaging applications, and improved monitoring, reporting, and maintenance for IVA tasks and call flows, according to the announcement. The tools also include pre-built IVA applications for healthcare and insurance providers.
Five9’s Studio now simplifies the integration of biometric authentication from ValidSoft VoiceID, and real-time voice transcription with Voci Transcribe from Medallia, as well as agent coaching and guidance. The services are provided through Five9 VoiceStream, which is a set of RESTful APIs.
VoiceStream was launched to give developers a cloud service to leverage real-time voice data last year.
“Reimagining the customer experience will require organizations to reimagine their workforces,” says Callan Schebella, EVP of Product Management for Five9. “Our new capabilities make it easier for organizations to build and manage AI solutions that will enable human and digital teams to deliver next-generation customer care.”
GlobalPlatform ISO 17065-accredited to issue cybersecurity certifications
Standard certification organization GlobalPlatform has been found compliant with the ISO/IEC 17065 by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA).
The move recognizes the efficacy and security of GlobalPlatform’s three certification schemes: functional, secure element (SE) security, and trusted execution environment (TEE) security, respectively. The latter two are the hardware environments in which on-device biometrics are typically stored and processed.
“GlobalPlatform secure components, such as TEEs, SEs or MCUs, embed a Root of Trust and are seen as essential to the future of cybersecurity,” explained Gil Bernabeu, Technical Director of GlobalPlatform. “Secure components, or devices that embed them, need to be certified to facilitate trust, confidence, and collaboration between stakeholders and foster market stability and growth,” he added.
The ISO 17065 accreditation given to GlobalPlatform has number 5486.01 and acknowledges the firm’s satisfaction with a series of requirements. These include certification bodies’ impartiality, competence, and confidentiality, as well as consistent operation and openness of product, process, and service.
Fime confirms Sybrin passive biometric liveness detection meets PAD standards
Sybrin has announced that its Passive Liveness Detection Software Development Kit (SDK) has successfully passed a compliance test by Fime, meaning it meets FIDO Alliance’s biometrics standards for both Level A and B presentation attacks.
In a statement announcing the development, Sybrin said the test by the FIDO-certified laboratory was conducted based on the FIDO Biometric Certification Requirements v1.1 (FIDO1.1) and in line with ISO/IEC 30107–1 and ISO/IEC 30107–3:2017.
The test was carried out with smartphones on which Sybrin’s Liveness Detection Showcase application was assessed for effective spoof detection.
Testing involved 12 subjects, six-level A and four-level B attacks, which enabled the design of 120 presentation attack instruments (PAI).
Each of the 120 PAIs, Sybrin said, was tested against the product five times, in outside conditions leading to 600 presentation attacks, also included testing against gender bias and racial bias for Asian, African and European ethnicities.
Idex Biometrics partners with Softlock on ID, access, payment cards for Asia, MENA
Idex Biometrics and Softlock have entered a collaboration aimed at developing and delivering biometric cards for identity management, access control and payment authentication applications in the Middle East.
The partnership agreement signed by the companies also covers Asia and North Africa, promoting the integration of Softlock’s card operating system and smart card modules exclusively with Idex Biometrics’ fingerprint sensors and biometric solutions.
“Softlock is a highly recognized security technology provider in the Middle East providing trusted information security solutions for physical and logical access control and payment,” commented Idex CEO Vince Graziani. “We are happy to be joining forces and sharing our biometric expertise.”
According to Softlock, the combination of Idex’s off-chip sensing architecture and biometric performance with Softlock security solutions will now provide companies with an agile authentication and information protection framework suitable for a variety of market needs.
“Idex’s superior fingerprint sensors and biometric technology expertise made them our obvious partner of choice,” said Softlock COO Mohamed Ghattas. “This technology represents the next generation of secure access solutions and we look forward to offering this unique solution to our many customers.”
BIO-key’s PalmPositive solution gets technology innovation award
BIO-key is the winner of a 2021 Technology Innovation Award. The awards are presented by Lucintel, which recognized BIO-key in the biometric category for its MobileAuth with PalmPositive solution.
Lucintel is a market research and consulting firm that set up the Technology Innovation Awards to acknowledge innovative breakthroughs in a number of different industries. BIO-key was selected for delivering a simple user experience that nevertheless provides organizations and end-users with a high level of biometric security.
PalmPositive debuted back in May and is now one of more than 16 authentication options available to users of the PortalGuard Identity-as-a-Service (IDaaS) platform. As the name would suggest, PalmPositive is a palm recognition solution that can be deployed on any device with a built-in camera. To use it, people simply need to hold their palm in front of the camera, and the camera will complete the scan and match the palm to a registered user.
The PalmPositive solution is completely contactless, and is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. It can be used for a wide range of applications, including remote access control for those who need to log into an account or gain access to sensitive workplace materials.
AnyVision scores $235M in funding to extend edge biometrics, market reach
AnyVision has continued a series of major biometrics industry funding announcements, unveiling a $235 million in a Series C funding round and plans to use the cash to fuel product innovation around edge computing and ‘Access Point AI.’
Softbank Vision Fund 2 and Eldridge led the round, with participation from existing AnyVision investors.
The investment is one of the largest ever in the field of visual intelligence among Western markets, the company says, taking it as an indication of the growing importance of artificial intelligence, machine learning and biometrics in physical and perimeter security.
AnyVision plans to innovate to optimize touchless access control, video surveillance and watchlist alerts. The same platform also provides operational insights like occupancy analytics, people counting, dwell times and detection of potentially dangerous behavior.
“AnyVision’s innovations in Recognition AI helped transform passive cameras into proactive security systems and empowered organizations to take a more holistic view to advanced security threats,” said AnyVision’s CEO Avi Golan. “The Access Point AI platform is designed to protect people, places, and privacy while simultaneously reducing costs, power, bandwidth, and operational complexity.”
The startup has previously been subject to controversy. Reports emerged in 2019 that its technology was being used by Israeli security forces to monitor the Palestinian population. Although AnyVision denied the report, Microsoft’s venture arm, M12, opted to divest its stake after an audit of AnyVision’s ethical practices. The company also had to lay off half of its staff last year due to the pandemic and M12’s decision, Reuters reported.
Easing biometrics implementation draws $12M Series B for Vu, $1.6M Seed round for HelloFlow
Vu Security has raised $12 million in its Series B funding round, and plans to add developer talent to accelerate the growth of its biometric authentication services, TechCrunch reports.
The company’s APIs use biometrics, along with geolocation, behavior analysis and online data to perform digital identity verification and continuous authentication. Vu launched an authentication solution for teleconferencing with voice and face biometrics in late-2020, and joined Microsoft’s passwordless decentralized ID pilot earlier this year.
Vu also recently passed biometric presentation attack detection (PAD) testing from iBeta Quality Assurance, according to a company blog post.
The funding round included participation from Globant, Agrega Partners, NXTP Ventures, Bridge One, the IDB Lab and Telefónica, and brings Vu’s total raised to $20 million. Globant also becomes a Vu distribution partner under the terms of its investment.
Financial institution onboarding startup HelloFlow has raised $1.6 million in a Seed funding round to fuel the expansion of its no-code digital identity and further platform development.
Specifically, HelloFlow intends to accelerate product development and expand its platform’s progressive functionalities.
The company uses third parties to perform identity verification, mentioning biometrics providers Onfido, Jumio and IDnow on its website, to provide plug-and-play services for a range of onboarding processes. The idea is to make it easy for companies to digitize, and give them flexibility with a simple and compliant digital client onboarding solution, which HelloFlow says can be time-consuming and expensive to develop.
DHS biometric privacy test of face-obscuring AI is more of a pop quiz
Perhaps noting the visibility that the U.S. federal agency NIST has gotten with its public AI-bias evaluations, Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate last year announced its own tests for autonomously obscuring faces captured on video.
The results of the facial recognition program, published this week, are significantly less useful than the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s tests of industry and research algorithms.
A video showcasing the release of results spotlights motion blur and crowds as two of the most challenging video conditions for AI. Of course, it might be difficult to find someone making or buying biometric systems who could not have tipped off Homeland Security to those findings in advance.
The demonstration was announced early last year.
Unlike NIST, Homeland Security leaders did not name the five software applications that they said they chose from entrants “around the globe.”
Nor does the department say how many applications were submitted, saying only industry response was “enthusiastic.” That lack of definition makes gauging the state of the art impossible.
Border Agency’s RFI Shows Contrast Between Canadian, American Approaches
The Canadian government has issued a Request for Information as it looks to update the biometric identification system that it uses to screen immigrants and other foreign nationals. The RFI indicates that the government is looking to engage in a dialogue with stakeholders, and develop a system that will protect the civil liberties of Canadians. That approach stands in contrast to that of the US government, which tends to search for specific solutions without considering the moral or ethical implications of the technology.
See no evil: Bad AI strategy, especially when alternative plans exist
A U.S. federal watchdog agency has defined four principles that its researchers say can build accountability into the creation and use of AI systems. The work is aimed primarily at government AI development and products, but if it is proved useful, it could help with private industry, where attitudes toward bias can be as opaque as black-box AI itself.
A disturbing environment there is described in a recent New York Times article that took a peek behind the curtain of obligatory and facile assurances that many of those in private-sector AI recite. At least some CEOs feel, incorrectly, that data is like sand — free of even original sin.
The four principles distilled by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, in fact, start with data. (NIST has some related thoughts on the matter, focused on biometrics.)
U.S. watchdog wants law enforcement to follow basic biometrics rules to build trust
A U.S. government watchdog agency is pushing three policies, none of which should be a surprise, to increase trust in police use of forensic biometric algorithms.
As with almost all biometric systems, the promise of greater productivity and accuracy of forensic algorithms is matched only by concern about their unbiased reliability and trustworthiness.
Along with its recommendations, the Government Accounting Office has identified the most prevalent biometric algorithms used today forensic investigation tools: latent fingerprint, facial recognition and probabilistic genotyping.
This is not new ground. The GAO issued accountability-building rules for AI systems. The Security Industry Association is pushing suggestions to ward off moratoriums. And the European Union last year discussed a regulatory framework to build trust.
The GAO has developed — although, agency leaders surely mean to say borrowed — their options in the hope that fewer operational black eyes will win public support for the software’s use.
Agencies and private businesses first must build or borrow standards and policies governing biometric algorithm use. Carelessness and misuse need to be avoided and, when necessary, rapidly righted.
The potential scale of unwanted outcomes from forensic biometrics, including negating a person’s human rights, is more bracing than lesser, though still unfortunate, human missteps made in the course of doing a difficult job.
And some people who today sit on the sidelines when law enforcement takes controversial actions could join the opposition to policing if AI is involved.
The GAO also recommends increased training for everyone involved in creating and operating forensic algorithms. Avoiding bias, along with mistakes and misuse, is critical to automating a foundational pillar of a democratic society.
The third recommendation is to maximize transparency at every stage of a forensic algorithm’s life cycle. The choice of data sets, tests, metrics, goals and corrective actions have to be as public as possible without, obviously, opening up the systems to tampering or gaming.
Ethnicity recognition found among Russian face biometrics providers’ features
A quartet of Russian biometrics providers has been found to have built ethnicity-recognition tools into facial recognition systems, like their Chinese counterparts, in an investigation by IPVM.
AxxonSoft, Tevian, VisionLabs (which is based in the Netherlands but was founded in Russia) and NtechLab were each found to have offered facial recognition solutions with ethnicity analytics, though no customers were found to be using the feature. The ethnicity identification features described in marketing materials and other publicly available materials classify people into one of four racial groups.
Reuters conducted its own investigation based on IPVM’s findings and spoke to an Amnesty International researcher who said racial profiling, arbitrary detentions and violence are frequent for migrants in Russia, particularly among those from Central Asia.
The companies have a variety of business models and explanations for the ethnicity recognition feature’s presence in their software.
Fallout from the discovery of ethnicity recognition systems targeting China’s Uyghur minority continued with the expulsion of Dahua from the SIA in June.
Russia’s government has also moved recently to require the submission of fingerprints and other biometric data by all foreigners staying in the country for longer than three months, The Moscow Times reports.
These Weeks’ News by Categories
Access Control:
- Nethone raises $6.7M to fight ATOs with behavioral biometrics, Stytch scores $30M
- Replace passwords with biometrics, Incognia suggests in new Mobile App Friction Report
- Using face biometrics and age estimation to create a safer internet for children
- Alcatraz, Wicket win touchless biometric access control clients, Active Witness launches the scanner
- Idemia touchless biometrics integrated by Bosch for secure access control
- Flee passwords — please — and create biometric layers to protect businesses
- Arana Security develops contactless 3-in-1 biometrics system for large events
- Australian biometrics providers partner up for responsible gambling systems
Consumer Electronics:
- The latest Apple patent extension filing suggests Touch ID biometrics on iPhone power button
- Tencent low-light facial recognition to check night-time gaming among children
Financial Services:
- Oracle finds a biometric onboarding partner in Everest
- Trulioo and One World Identity explain the biometric onboarding demand boom
- Replace passwords with biometrics, Incognia suggests in new Mobile App Friction Report
- Selfie biometrics for online pet sales and financial services among latest remote onboarding launches
- More selfie biometrics could ease government and financial service access in UK, Australia, US
- Biometric verification allows ‘dignified’ distribution of 6.4M meals to Rohingya refugees
- Philippines digital ID project on track for 2021 target as Step 1 registration tops 37M
- New Zealand is close behind Australia in establishing consumer data right legislation
- Biometric POS market to grow at over 35 percent CAGR; Telpo updates the terminal
- Revelock adds behavioral biometrics to Veritran platform to fight financial fraud
- Apiture selects Enacomm to deliver voice biometrics for online banking
- Cerence expands voice biometrics payments ecosystem with addition of ryd pay
- ID doc, selfie biometric checks implemented from banking to exams to combat rampant fraud
Civil / National ID:
- Millions excluded as Uganda uses national digital ID system for emergency COVID welfare
- Hong Kong ‘exploring collaboration’ with Mainland digital identity systems
- Ghana Card to function as full biometric passport under the government plan
- Veridos supports ICAO standard update for biometric verification of travel documents
- Shortage of chips threatens biometric passport, digital ID supply — and the suppliers
- Mobile ID can bring both convenience and citizen privacy
- Indian govt using face biometrics at COVID vaccination centers
- Governments consider digital health pass rules, seek a balance between safety and exclusion
- Lord Holmes discusses the state of digital identity in the UK
- Philippines digital ID project on track for 2021 target as Step 1 registration tops 37M
- How digital identity authentication can help France’s document fraud problem: Fourthline
- New European partnerships strengthen transition to digital identity
- Sri Lanka partners with MOSIP to develop its digital ID ecosystem
- Digital ID to help target beneficiaries of Philippines aid distribution program
- Indian farmers’ digital ID proposed as Aadhaar reaches 99 percent adult coverage
- Yoti, Pass provide biometrics for COVID test result apps as digital health pass issuance ramps up
- Digital ID rollout passes 1M cards in Philippines
- Many Germans wary of biometrics on ID cards
Government Services & Elections:
- Millions excluded as Uganda uses national digital ID system for emergency COVID welfare
- Liberia elections commission, Senate bicker over biometrics introduction for 2023 polls
- Hong Kong ‘exploring collaboration’ with Mainland digital identity systems
- Shortage of chips threatens biometric passport, digital ID supply — and the suppliers
- Using face biometrics and age estimation to create a safer internet for children
- More selfie biometrics could ease government and financial service access in UK, Australia, US
- Lord Holmes discusses the state of digital identity in the UK
- New Zealand is close behind Australia in establishing consumer data right legislation
- Canada launches tender to upgrade immigration biometrics system
- Sri Lanka partners with MOSIP to develop its digital ID ecosystem
- Digital ID to help target beneficiaries of Philippines aid distribution program
- Renewed attempt to ban biometric monitoring in public housing
- Indian farmers’ digital ID proposed as Aadhaar reaches 99 percent adult coverage
- Nigeria to add 6M students to the biometric database for the school meal program
- Digital ID rollout passes 1M cards in the Philippines
- Ghana’s pensions agency harmonizing biometric data to save cost
- Nigerian group suggests digital ID procurement needs more protection
- Liberia elections commission, Senate bicker over biometrics introduction for 2023 polls
Facial Recognition:
- NIST testing suggests best face biometrics algorithms for flight boarding already meet the accuracy goal
- Some states reject facial recognition for police, but a groundswell may be building
- Indian govt using face biometrics at COVID vaccination centers
- CyberLink, Fingerprint Cards explore biometrics for secure remote and hybrid workforces
- Veridas face biometrics, Sensory edge speech recognition combat video conferencing fraud
- China fights COVID with ‘one database, code and platform,’ UAE goes with auras
- Police in Israel want greater freedom to use facial recognition
- NEC showcases I:Delight biometrics with virtual customer experience center launch
- Who’s the next U.S. funder to get tangled in Washington’s China sanctions
- Iveda updates mobile app for real-time facial recognition, LPR
- Idemia reaches 11M biometric TSA PreCheck enrollments as air travel recovers
- Try-on facial recognition apps land cosmetics firms in court
- Tencent low-light facial recognition to check night-time gaming among children
- Biometric gates reduce airport touchpoints in Czech Republic, Bangladesh, Finland
- Australian biometrics providers partner up for responsible gambling systems
- U.S. polls probe Uber, Lyft about facial recognition tech facing riders
- Paravision appoints biometrics industry leader Benji Hutchinson president and COO
- AnyVision scores $235M in funding to extend edge biometrics, market reach
- CyberLink and ASUS partner on facial recognition for integrated edge solution
- VSBLTY partners on face biometrics and threat detection data for first responders
- Ethnicity recognition found among Russian face biometrics providers’ features
Fingerprint Recognition:
- Momentum for biometric phones, PCs, payments lifts Fingerprint Cards despite COVID disruption
- Zwipe strengthens biometric payment cards position in Africa and Southeast Asia
- Idex Biometrics and Infineon integrate security controller and BSoC to simplify biometric card production
- CyberLink, Fingerprint Cards explore biometrics for secure remote and hybrid workforces
- Biometric payment card commercialization accelerates with 250K unit follow-on for FPC
- Fingerprint Cards partners to roll out biometric payment cards in Japan
- Fingerprint biometrics popularity peaking; investment market stays hot
- Plaintiff and defendant in biometric data privacy suit chase insurer for $10M
- Worldline integrates A3BC biometric digital ID and data storage protocol
- Arana Security develops a contactless 3-in-1 biometrics system for large events
- 4 in 5 consumers ready for biometric payment cards, Idemia survey finds
- The latest Apple patent extension filing suggests Touch ID biometrics on the iPhone power button
- Integrated Biometrics adds touchless fingerprints with Sciometrics collaboration
- Idex Biometrics partners with Softlock on ID, access, payment cards for Asia, MENA
Voice Biometrics:
- Five9 simplifies voice biometrics development for virtual call center agents
- Veridas face biometrics, Sensory edge speech recognition combat video conferencing fraud
- Kaizen Secure Voiz voice biometrics, passive liveness detection chosen for contact centers
- Voice biometrics spoof detection catching up, EAB speaker says
- Apiture selects Enacomm to deliver voice biometrics for online banking
- Cerence expands the voice biometrics payments ecosystem with the addition of ryd pay
- ID R&D voice biometrics boost Thales call center solutions with seamless fraud protection
Liveness Detection:
- CyberArk Labs tests biometric presentation attacks against Windows Hello
- Fime confirms Sybrin passive biometric liveness detection meets PAD standards
- Kaizen Secure Voiz voice biometrics, passive liveness detection chosen for contact centers
- FaceTec prevails in ‘Zoom’ trademark case
- Thales recounts real-life biometric spoof to highlight liveness detection importance
- Voice biometrics spoof detection catching up, EAB speaker says
Behavioral Biometrics:
- TypingDNA launches behavioral biometrics tool for the mood to beta
- Nethone raises $6.7M to fight ATOs with behavioral biometrics, Stytch scores $30M
- Zighra granted a behavioral biometrics patent to extend mobile passwordless access
- Revelock adds behavioral biometrics to Veritran platform to fight financial fraud
Wearables:
- Biometric health devices driving cost-effective healthcare delivery: report
- Infineon powers biometric bracelet with gesture recognition, no screen
Mobile Biometrics:
- Rapid biometrics growth seen in government contracts, funding, and grave warnings
- Trulioo and One World Identity explain biometric onboarding demand boom
- Oracle finds a biometric onboarding partner in Everest
- Governments consider digital health pass rules, seek a balance between safety and exclusion
- Selfie biometrics for online pet sales and financial services among latest remote onboarding launches
- How digital identity authentication can help France’s document fraud problem: Fourthline
- Trulioo brings biometric verification to four new payment providers
- Fingerprint biometrics popularity peaking; investment market stays hot
- Socure unveils biometric-powered BNPL solution
- Biometrics investments roll on with $7M for Smile Identity, up to $8.7M for Daltrey
- Worldline integrates A3BC biometric digital ID and data storage protocol
- Vouched provides assurance of biometric data security and privacy with ISO certification
- ID doc, selfie biometric checks implemented from banking to exams to combat rampant fraud
- Veridas partners with Veritran on low-code biometrics to ease enterprise development
- Yoti, Pass provide biometrics for COVID test result apps as digital health pass issuance ramps up
- Integrated Biometrics adds touchless fingerprints with Sciometrics collaboration
- Biometrics for compliant remote onboarding in high demand; Spanish regulator displeased
- Google API update enables storage of COVID-19 status on Android devices
Biometrics Industry Events
Security Exhibition & Conference 2021: Jul 21, 2021 — Jul 23, 2021
2nd CCTV EXPO: Jul 29, 2021 — Jul 30, 2021
5th India Homeland Security Expo: Jul 29, 2021 — Jul 30, 2021
6th International Police Expo: Jul 29, 2021 — Jul 30, 2021
The Security Event: Sep 7, 2021 — Sep 9, 2021
ICT Spring Europe 2021: Sep 14, 2021 — Sep 15, 2021
Forensics Europe Expo: Sep 14, 2021 — Sep 16, 2021
European Biometrics Max Snijder, Research, and Industry Awards 2021: Sep 15, 2021
BIOSIG 2021–20th International Conference of the Biometrics Special Interest Group: Sep 15, 2021 — Sep 17, 2021
The Biometrics Institute’s calendar of events for 2021:
MISC
- Trust and Interoperability on the Road to Mobile ID webinar:
- Biometric health devices driving cost-effective healthcare delivery: IoT consulting firm Parks Associates hosted a virtual session about personalization in connected health devices after sharing the results of the company’s Q2 2021 survey revealing 55 percent of broadband households own a biometric health or fitness device.
- Black teen misidentified by facial recognition sparks fears of machine-driven segregation: A 14-year-old Black girl has become another victim of a facial recognition failure. Lamya Robinson was kicked out of a skating rink in Michigan after a facial recognition system misidentified the teen as someone who’d been banned by the business. The incident has escalated concerns about machine-driven segregation. But let’s dive into what exactly happened.
- AI voice actors sound more human than ever — and they’re ready to hire: A new wave of startups are using deep learning to build synthetic voice actors for digital assistants, video-game characters, and corporate videos.
- Humanode Fireside: Biometric ownership
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