NEWS

Veridium’s biometric solution, 4 Fingers
TouchlessID captures four fingerprints at
once, contactlessly, using a phone’s rear cam-
era and flash. Capturing four fingers instead
of a single fingerprint makes it harder to
spoof due to the complexity of the data col-
lected. 4 Fingers TouchlessID doesn’t require
any additional hardware or sensors and is
ready to deploy within any custom app using
Veridium’s SDK, which removes the need
to deploy hardware peripherals or for new
biometrically-enabled phones.
As part of the grant, Veridium is developing
liveness detection to detect if fingerprints are
real and not a photograph. The user will cap-
ture two pictures of their fingers, moving them
slightly, and then a 3D model is created. The
system will then reject 2D photographs.
mobile biometrics
Mobile biometrics
revenues predicted
to boom
globally available platform remains the driving
force behind worldwide biometric adoption,”
says Maxine Most, Acuity principal and lead
analyst.
Meanwhile, Goode Intelligence fore-
casts that revenues for mobile and wearable
biometric authentication will exceed $14.75bn
by 2022. In its latest edition of its ‘Mobile &
Wearable Biometric Authentication Market
Analysis and Forecasts 2017–2022’, Goode
Intelligence also predicts that by 2022 over
1.7bn devices will have integrated biometric
hardware and over 2.1bn biometric software
licences will be sold.
Alan Goode, author of the report and
founder of Goode Intelligence, says, “The mar-
ket continues to evolve and the announcement
that Apple is replacing Touch ID fingerprint
authentication with 3D facial recognition
technology for its new flagship model, the
iPhone X, is significant. 3D facial recognition
technology uses infrared (IR), neural networks
and machine learning to support biometric
authentication on a bezel-less OLED display
– which so far has proved problematic using a
fingerprint sensor.
EVENTS
CALENDAR
1–2 November 2017
Australia House, London
Biometrics Institute Congress 2017
This event is part of Biometrics Week 2017. This
year, the Biometrics Institute offers a two-day
congress on 1-2 November 2017, accompanied by
satellite events on either side (31 October and 3
November). The week also includes the Biometrics
Institute Annual Evening Reception to be held on
Wednesday, 1 November 2017.
More information:
http://www.biometricscongress.org/welcome
7–8 November 2017
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Future Travel Experience Asia
EXPO 2017
FTE Asia EXPO 2017, delivered with the support of
headline partners Changi Airport Group (CAG) and
the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX),
is a free to attend passenger experience and business
performance expo, with an expected attendance of
more than 2,500. The event will provide a platform
for solution and service providers from across Asia-
Pacific and beyond to showcase their latest products
and concepts designed to help airlines and airports
improve customer experiences, reduce costs, increase
revenues and enhance operational efficiency.

H ot on the heels of Apple’s launch
of the iPhone X featuring Face ID
facial recognition, biometrics market
analysts are predicting significant
growth in the mobile biometric sec-
tor. However, some observers are
sounding a note of caution. Almost
half of iOS users in the US (over 40%)
consider themselves unlikely to use
facial recognition as a payment secu-
rity technology, according to Juniper
Research.
Annual revenue from biometrics embedded
in mobile devices, biometric app downloads,
and biometric transactions authentication is pre-
dicted to grow from $6.5bn in 2016 to $50.6bn
in 2022 a CAGR of nearly 41% with revenues
exceeding $193bn in the forecast period, accord-
ing to Acuity Market Intelligence updated fore-
casts for the mobile biometrics market.
Acuity projects that by 2020 biometrics
will be standard on 100% of the nearly 2.4bn
mobile devices sold each year. By 2022, 98% of
all mobile devices will be biometrically enabled,
generating 16.7bn biometric app downloads
and more than 1.37tn payment and non-pay-
ment mobile devices transactions that require
some level of biometric authentication.
“The potential for consumer use of mobile
biometrics dwarfs any previous application of
biometrics. More than 1.9bn biometrically
enabled mobile devices will be in circulation by
the end of 2017. This will grow to an unprec-
edented 5.5bn devices by 2022 as this massive,
“When Apple announced Touch ID in
2013 it revolutionised consumer biometric
authentication and led to an explosion of fin-
gerprint sensors being integrated in almost all
new smartphones.
“We expect that Face ID is likely to
be disruptive and to impact the market
– we’ll see Android Original Equipment
Manufacturers’ (OEMs) replicate Apple’s
move by integrating 3D facial recognition
technology into their flagship models –
however fingerprint will continue to play an
important role for OEMs both in single and
multi-modal strategies.”
This comes as Juniper Research has found
that almost half of iOS users in the US (over
40%) say they are unlikely to use facial rec-
ognition as a payment security technology.
Juniper Research analysts believe this finding
suggests that a core use case for the iPhone
X’s main security feature may struggle to gain
traction. Contactless payment users preferred
fingerprint sensors and voice recognition
authentication methods, with 74% and 62%
respectively saying they are likely to use these
technologies.
Jupiter asked 500 US and 500 UK smart-
phone users about mobile banking and con-
tactless payments. It found that the number
of contactless payment users grew by only 2%
year-on-year in the US, with most deployments
coming from smartphone OEMs. In contrast,
UK user numbers grew by 12%.
Continued on page 12...
More information:
http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/fteasia/
28–30 November 2017
Palais des Festivals, Cannes
Trustech 2017
Smart cards-focused Cartes Secure Connexions con-
ference rebranded last year as Trustech to reflect
the converging areas of payments and secure
identification within the concept of trust-based
technologies. This year’s event has the theme ‘Pay,
Identify, Connect & Secure’. There will be more than
250 speakers and more than 350 exhibitors, includ-
ing big names from the biometrics sector including
Dermalog and NEXT Biometrics.
More information: https://www.trustech-event.com
6–7 March 2018
Olympia, London
Counter Terror Expo
Security & Counter Terror Expo is the UK’s national
security event. It is a showcase of capabilities, strate-
gies and intelligence used to keep nations, infrastruc-
ture, business and people safe. It brings together more
than 10,000 senior professionals from government,
private sector, critical national infrastructure, military,
law enforcement, transport security, border security,
security services, major events and emergency servic-
es. Security & Counter Terror Expo is co-located with
Forensics Europe Expo and Ambition - The EPRR Expo.
More information:
http://www.counterterrorexpo.com
20–21 March 2018
Mary Gates Learning Centre, Washington DC
Biometrics institute US Conference 2018
The programme is under development but will fol-
low the format of last year’s conference, involving
discussion and interaction led by industry experts
but with additional time for exploration of other
topics and areas of interest.
More information:
https://www.biometricsinstitute.org/events/us-
conference-2018

3
October 2017 Biometric Technology Today
 NEWS/COMMENT
...Continued from page 3
The survey found that while mobile con-
tactless payments usage looks set to expand
in both geographies, it is likely that existing
users will fuel most of that growth. In the
US, almost three quarters (73%) of users of
Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay expect
to increase their usage of mobile contactless
payments, but only 39% of non-users expect
to start using mobile contactless payments.
In the UK, only just over a quarter (26%) of
people who do not currently use mobile con-
tactless payments expect that they will start
to use these services any time soon.
law enforcement
Facial recognition tech
sees global uptake for
law enforcement
L aw enforcement authorities around
the world are developing their use
of facial recognition technology:
• Chinese police have used facial recogni-
tion technology to catch criminals at
a beer festival in Qingdao, reports The
Guardian. 25 people were arrested includ-
ing a man who had been on the run for
10 years.
• Police in Shanghai are using facial rec-
ognition technology to catch cyclists
who are travelling in the wrong lane or
committing other traffic offences. This is
reported to be the same technology that
has been used at major road junctions to
catch ‘jaywalkers’.
• Meanwhile, Liberty has expressed concerns
about the viability of facial recognition tech-
nology used by Metropolitan Police during
the Notting Hill Carnival in London.
• See comment right.
payments
Retailers and fast-food
restaurants try out
biometric payments
R etailers and fast-food restaurants
are experimenting with a number
of biometric modalities for payments
and customer service:
• KFC has introduced facial recognition
powered payment in China. KFC cus-
tomers in Zangzhou will be able to use a
‘Smile to Pay’ facial recognition system.
12
Biometric Technology Today October 2017
• A Costcutter supermarket in London is
piloting fingervein biometrics payments,
according to the BBC. Costcutter says it
will consider rolling out Fingopay more
widely if the test, at Brunel University,
is successful. Customers link their fin-
gervein data to their payment card and
then pay by presenting their fingertip.
Hitachi has developed the technology
alongside biometric payments company
Sthaler to target the retail sector.
• In Sydney, Australia, NoahFace has cre-
ated software that remembers cafe cus-
tomers’ faces and their favourite drink
at the Bahista Café, reports The Daily
Telegraph Australia. According to the
report, the system uses two iPads at the
cash register, one facing the customer
and the other facing staff. When a cus-
tomer walks in it recognises their face
and tells the staff their name and regular
order.
COMMENT
Law enforcement
authorities around the
globe are developing
their utilisation of facial
recognition technol-
ogy. However, Liberty,
the UK civil liberties group, has published
concerns about the efficacy of the technology,
based on observation of a trial of the technol-
ogy in London.
Meanwhile, police in China appeared to
be extending their use of facial recognition
technology. Recently, Biometric Technology
Today reported on the introduction of facial
recognition technology that photographs
people crossing the road against the traffic
lights, and matches their face against a central
database. Not only would the police then
issue a fine for the transgression but, accord-
ing to reports, the person’s photograph would
then appear on social media and flash up on
large screens in the location of the crossing.
The same technology now looks to be behind
a similar system to identify cyclists who are
in the wrong lane or committing other traffic
offences in China.
In the past few weeks, Chinese police
were also reported to be using facial recogni-
tion technology to catch criminals at a beer
festival, with some success – 25 people were
arrested including a man who had been on
the run for 10 years.
As the technology develops, there are increas-
ing concerns about the privacy implications of
banking
Mexican banking body
mandates biometrics
T he Mexican National Banking and
Security Commission (CNBV) has
passed a law mandating biometric
technology in banks, to address
the growing issue of identity theft.
According to local reports, the coun-
try’s banks will all have to implement
fingerprint biometric technologies
within the next year.
Ten fingerprint readings will be taken from
people applying for credit cards or loans and
matched against the database of the National
Electoral Institute. Banks can also authen-
ticate clients by facial or speech recognition
biometrics when customers are applying for
services remotely.
police use of facial recognition technology and
the associated storage of personal data.
These issues are exacerbated if the technol-
ogy does not work reliably. In a blog article,
Silkie Carlo, senior advocacy officer at Liberty,
the National Council for Civil Liberties in the
UK, describes her experiences of observing
The Metropolitan Police’s trial of real-time
facial recognition on carnival-goers attending
the Notting Hill Carnival in London.
She reports that police staff running the
project indicated that they were seeking to
match anyone attending the Carnival against
a watch list of 500 known criminals. Carlo
blogs, “I watched the facial recognition screen
in action for less than 10 minutes. In that
short time, I witnessed the algorithm produce
two ‘matches’ – both immediately obvious,
to the human eye, as false positives. In fact
both alerts had matched innocent women
with wanted men.” She reports that there had
been 35 false-positive matches on one day, at
least five of these resulting in the police stop-
ping innocent members of the public who had
been falsely identified.
Facial recognition is making massive strides,
especially when it comes to identifying indi-
viduals in real time, so it is likely that we will
see a reduction in error rates and increasing
success rates. At the same time, it would be
beneficial for law enforcement authorities to
develop more transparent and effective privacy
practice.
Tracey Caldwell