Veridium - Experts & Thought Leaders

In March 2021, the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released Special Publication 500-334, which provides guidance on implementing the technology that allows the use of contactless fingerprints, acquired via the camera in mobile devices (e.g., an Android or iOS mobile phone), to be stored, transmitted, and matched against legacy fingerprint databases, operated by law enforcement and border protection services. Special Publication 500-334 Together with NIST and other industry partners, Veridium, a globally renowned company in the development of user-centric authentication solutions, is proud to have played an important role in supporting this guidance, by helping NIST develop, measure and test contactless fingerprint technologies, enabling wide deployment and interoperation with existing backend services. Charles Kolodgy, Principal at Security Mindsets, said “NIST's best practice recommendation advances the use of contactless captured friction ridge imagery for quick and verifiable identification. At the same time, stakeholders have a choice to incorporate this new model of contactless capture, while preserving the integrity and separation of the legacy friction ridge infrastructure.” Identity verification to access critical services In many instances, fingerprints are required to verify the identity to access critical services and enter secure areas In many instances, fingerprints are required to verify the identity to access critical services and enter secure areas, like airport terminals or assume a trusted job, like airline pilot or healthcare provider in a hospital. Fingerprints play a critical role because they are highly unique (even among twins). Until recently, however, only specialised equipment could be used to acquire fingerprints. Standards developed in the 1980s are still being used to certify devices around the world, including single finger readers, glass-plate ‘slap’ readers and conductive metal surface readers, all of which require physical contact of the finger and hands to touch, press and acquire fingerprint information. Contactless mobile fingerprint capture Contactless mobile fingerprint capture eliminates specialised hardware, because much of the process can be performed on a personal device. It also enhances privacy, as there is no need for collection and storage, by a chain of intermediary service providers. The device can communicate directly with the trusted identity service that purges the data after verification. Veridium’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Dr. John Callahan, said “We are proud to participate in the NIST Contactless Fingerprint CRADA, since 2015. The new standards open many new doors, as many countries around the globe require fingerprints for access to social services, from remote and underserved areas. Contactless acquisition makes this possible, with the use of existing mobile services, without requiring specialised hardware.” Veridium’s 4 Fingers technology With Veridium 4 Fingers, they can use their mobile phone to satisfy this requirement remotely, anytime and anywhere Veridium’s 4 Fingers technology is leading the way in the acquisition of high-quality contactless fingerprint capture and matching. The new standard from NIST opens up new applications for the use of high-quality contactless fingerprints (e.g. remote identity verification, remote employee and contractor onboarding, account recovery, know your customer (KYC), know your applicant, etc.), especially important in an era of digital first and self-service centric interactions. Earlier, individuals had to physically report to a fingerprinting facility, operated by a vendor or local police department. With Veridium 4 Fingers, they can use their mobile phone to satisfy this requirement remotely, anytime and anywhere. Contactless biometric acquisition and matching Veridium’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ismet Geri, said “We are proud to help advance the state of contactless biometric acquisition and matching. Veridium 4 Fingers, along with vFace, Veridium’s facial recognition platform, provides a device agnostic mechanism to use biometrics for strong passwordless authentication, in addition to identity verification.” He adds, “Looking forward, Veridium and its partners are working on creating more applications of our technology for fast matching between a live capture and NFC-enabled passport, crypto-biometric key management for crypto-currency wallets, anti-human trafficking control using in-field biometric validation, wilderness border crossing, and checkpoint validation against known watch lists.”

South Wales Police have confirmed their intention to use facial recognition technology – rolling the application out to 50 police officers for an initial three-month trial. This will enable them to take a snapshot and analyse it immediately to answer the pressing question, “Are you really the person we’re looking for?” This introduction comes at a time when the effectiveness of facial recognition technology is still being challenged in court. Despite the positive decision by the Prime Minister and Home Secretary to add a further 20,000 police officers across the country, it is widely understood within senior policing that the benefits to increased quality and efficiency of policing come from a combination of investment in technology and additional new police officers. Senior police executives view the use of biometric technologies as an innovation that can make a transformative step-change in digital policing. Supports on-demand identity verification The use of biometrics can support identity verification on-demand and at scale"Jason Tooley, board member of techUK and Chief Revenue Officer at Veridium comments: “As police forces recognise that technology innovation for officers can drive improved policing, there is clearly a need to focus on how the technology can be adopted quickly and how public acceptance for this technology can be increased. The use of biometrics can support identity verification on-demand and at scale, as has been proven in many other countries where officers currently use consumerised technology.” “As part of a wider digital policing initiative, it is imperative for police forces to take a strategic approach as they trial biometric technologies, and not prematurely focus on a single biometric approach. This strategy would take advantage of other biometric techniques such as digital fingerprinting which ensures a higher level of public consent due to the maturity of fingerprints as an identity verification technique." Multi-modal biometric strategy “It’s clear that alleviating privacy concerns need to be prioritised by the police within the overall strategy for using technology in this area. The public need to be able to see the value of the technology innovation through results in order to advance consent and acceptance by citizens." “With the rapid rate of innovation in the field, a multi-modal biometric strategy that allows the police to use the right biometric techniques for the right scenario will accelerate the benefits associated with digital policing.”

Police forces recognise biometrics as a potentially critical tool to improving the quality and efficiency of policing across the globe. As part of a diverse Digital Authentication strategy, automated facial recognition surveillance is becoming an integral part of our digital policing, with the UK Home Office planning to invest a huge £97 million into a broader biometric technology approach to safeguard our streets. Automated facial recognition surveillance Digital fingerprint-based authentication is still widely regarded as having a higher level of maturity However, the latest court case against the South Wales Police as well as the Amazon backlash over the sale of its technology to the US police has highlighted that acceptance of the use of biometric technology as much as the maturing of the technology is important to achieve the expected benefits for the police. Digital fingerprint-based authentication is still widely regarded as having a higher level of maturity, has an implicit acceptance linked to the identity of the individual and delivers a lower false positive result. Facial recognition, when used as a stand-alone biometric, suffers from the risk of challenge or refusal to accept as in the case of the challenge to the South Wales Police pilot program. In addition, gender and racial bias as well as scenarios such as poor lighting and individuals wearing accessories impacts on reliability. Advancements in biometrics There is clearly a need to focus on how biometrics, as technology matures, can support identity verification at scale and to gain widespread public acceptance as part of a wider digital policing initiative according to Jason Tooley, Chief Revenue Officer at Veridium. Jason comments: “Police forces around the world are looking to integrate the latest advancements in technology to enhance public security and cut costs, and biometric solutions are integral to this movement. With the maturing of biometrics techniques and many different scenarios to address, it’s imperative to use the right biometrics for the right requirements and to create a strategy that facilitates the use of multiple biometrics. We would advocate an approach that abstracts the identity verification and digital authentication processes from the services and creates a biometric platform to match the specific requirements of the police and the public.” Fingerprint recognition Fingerprint, being the most mature and widely used biometrics, has high levels of acceptance today" He adds, “There are current barriers to the acceptance of biometrics which will be overcome as trust in the technology becomes the norm. Fingerprint, being the most mature and widely used has high levels of acceptance today and is easily adopted by police and public. It requires public acceptance and doesn’t work for wider surveillance techniques but for individual verification, police moving to a digital fingerprint capture mechanism rather than physical has great benefits and the public are more likely to be accepting of enrolment. Facial recognition would be a surveillance at scale solution but the challenges of maturity and external factors as well as public acceptance are challenges to be overcome in the future.” Jason continues, “It is imperative for police forces to take a strategic approach as they trial biometric technologies, and not solely focus on a single biometric approach. With the rapid rate of innovation in the field, an open biometric strategy that delivers the ability for the police to use the right biometric techniques for the right requirements will accelerate the benefits associated with digital policing and achieve public acceptance by linking the strategy to ease of adoption.”