Major airport biometrics and government digital identity projects advance
Airport biometrics and digital travel vouchers have made headlines on two of the most read articles on Biometric update this week. Digi Yatra has been launched for domestic Indian flights and an explanation of recent advances in the US is provided by Thales. Government action on digital identity apps was also a big theme for the week, with Australia finally achieving a long-term digital government goal with the launch of the myGov app, and Scytáles winning an EU Digital Identity Wallet contract.
Top biometrics news of the week
Australia’s myGov mobile app has been launched to give residents control over their digital identity and access to both public and private sector services. The app offers login with facial biometrics, includes a digital wallet, and gives users access to 15 government services to start, with more to follow soon.
The EU Council agreed on a draft version of the AI law, with a ban on social scoring, fundamental rights considerations for classifying apps as high-risk, and more detailed definitions of “public spaces” and “remote biometric identification systems.” Several civil society groups and some EU lawmakers immediately weighed in with criticism.
The Council also reached a common position on the legal framework for a continental digital ID. Proposed amendments to eIDAS would set technical standards for EU ID digital wallets, address feature declaration, define its relationships with other laws, and could give countries until 2025 or later to have the whole system up and running.
Almost exactly the same time it was announced that a contract to build the European digital identity wallet that will deliver that ID was awarded to Scytáles, together with partner Netcompany-Intrasoft.
An agreement between the UK and Ukraine will see the countries work together on digital identity, emerging technologies and cyber security. Ukraine gains access to financial services, and a path to global portability of digital identity through mutual recognition agreements becomes a little clearer.
US CBP has introduced biometric traveler verification for people departing on cruise ships from San Diego, as border biometric checks continue to expand. Already, 240 million people have used CBP biometrics at sea, land and air borders, and 16 more airports in the country are expected to test biometric systems next year. Meanwhile, India’s Digi Yatra system has expanded to biometric checks for domestic flights.
Neville Pattinson, head of business development and strategic marketing, explains in a sponsored post how digital travel vouchers held on mobile phones are now combining with facial biometrics to deliver the long-promised ‘paperless’ airport journey. A single application serves several airport processes for huge time savings, and will be further expanded in the future.
Samsung is excited about the security possibilities of using two or even three fingerprints for user authentication anywhere on the screen of a mobile device. The capability could be ready in two or three years, the company suggests, opening up a potential $2.5 billion market.
Ghana brought forward its biometric SIM card registration with the expiry of the November 30 deadline, but did not immediately deactivate those who did not complete the process. More than 21 million SIMs were registered a month ago, and it is unclear how many more were added in the next three weeks. The latest update is that Ghana has cut off 8 million mobile accounts, reports the BBC via The Star.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies argues that Tiandy Technologies, a provider of security camera systems and facial recognition, should be approved or added to the US Entity List. The company is linked to China’s government, sells to Iran and is involved in human rights abuses, he says.
Traditional MFA is far from a magic bullet against attacks, and cybercriminals have several viable ways to find it, Innovatrics founder and CEO Ján Lunter explains in a Biometric update guest post Using biometrics as an additional authentication factor can prevent this and provide a good trade-off.
Call Sign General Manager for Asia Pacific Namrata Jolly explores the rapidly growing threat of authorized fraud in another guest post. The volume of authorized fraud attacks has grown to be a major problem for two-thirds of APAC financial services companies and has drawn the attention of regulators.
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Article Topics
biometric authentication | biometric identification | biometrics | digital ID | digital identity | facial biometrics
