Top 5 Reasons Facial Biometrics Can Help Your Business
(Entrepreneur.com, Nov 29, 2022)
Using a person's face to authenticate themselves is something that humans have been doing for hundreds of thousands of years. New technological advancements have transformed how we interact with one another, and businesses especially are capitalizing on these advancements to verify identity. Those previous pillars of in-person and digital verification, like knowledge-based authentication (KBA), are no longer adequate protection against fraud. Why? Just as technology advances, so does fraud. Facial biometric technology has become the foundation that businesses and consumers rely on to verify their identities. In this article, we will provide the top five reasons facial biometrics can help your business.
UBS Leverages NFC and Biometrics to Let Swiss Residents Open a Bank Account From Their Mobile Phone
(NFCW, Nov 29, 2022)
Residents of Switzerland can now remotely verify their identity when opening an account with Swiss bank UBS by scanning the contactless chip embedded in their biometric passport with their NFC smartphone and confirming their identity with a selfie using face recognition technology. The bank’s digital onboarding service enables Swiss citizens and foreign nationals with a Swiss residence permit to sign up for an account, access banking products and create an electronic signature in the UBS mobile banking app “anytime and anywhere” and without needing to carry out the real-time video interview that the bank previously required. The service uses a document authentication solution developed by Latvia-based technology provider Regula that reads the RFID chip in a customer’s biometric passport via “the NFC module on a mobile device.
As More Biometric Data Is Collected In Schools, Parents Need To Ask These 10 Questions
(MenaFN, Nov 29, 2022)
A Sydney high school recently introduced fingerprint technology to“help narrow down” students who were vandalising school toilets. Under the plan, students needed to to scan their fingerprints to get access to the toilets or pick-up a swipe card if they opted out. Some parents were supportive, but other parents and digital rights advocates raised privacy and security concerns. The NSW Education Department has since noted the school is still considering how it will handle anti-social behaviour and the community will be“consulted”. While the fingerprint plan appears to have stalled, it shows how easily biometric technology can be introduced into schools. This debate may seem new to Australian parents but it is set to become an increasing issue, thanks to a rapidly growing education technology (“edtech”) sector.
Why’s & How’s: European Startups and the Passwordless Future
(150Sec, Nov 29, 2022)
Passwords are on their way out, and new, simpler, faster, and more secure methods to log in to accounts are already well-established and are gaining momentum. Recently, Paypal, Microsoft, Apple, and Google all switched to passkeys, ending the long-ruling reign of passwords. All technology companies and organizations are expected to follow the big tech trend. Based on FIDO Alliance standards, passkeys replace passwords with cryptographic key pairs stored on devices that can integrate with Face ID, Touch ID, and other biometric features for seamless authentication. When Ján Lunter, CEO of Bratislava-based Innovatrics started working in the field more than 15 years ago, biometrics was mainly associated with law enforcement. “Today, you use biometrics every day, all the time,” Lunter says. “Biometrics has entered our lives, and the number of usage scenarios has grown exponentially.”
Seal Conservation Efforts Aided by New Facial Recognition Technology
(NYPost, Nov 29, 2022)
A team of New York scientists may have sealed the deal on the conservation of one of Maine’s most recognized wild animals. The group of researchers out of Colgate University processed pictures of dozens of harbor seals in Casco Bay, on the state’s southern coast, then gathered them in a database. They used the images to create SealNet, an automated facial recognition technology that has proven close to 100% accurate in identifying the mammals. The software is being touted as “a vital tool for ecological and behavioral studies of marine mammals in the developing field of conservation technology,” according to a study which was published on Wiley Online Library. “Understanding their dispersal, understanding their patterns really helps inform any conservation efforts for the coast,” said team member Krista Ingram, who is also a biology teacher at the Colgate University. “For mobile marine mammals that move around a lot and are hard to photograph in the water, we need to be able to identify individuals.”
