In a poll, the industry publication Find Biometrics asked 165 professionals in the biometrics and identity related industries about various topics and trends. The one thing that stood out, was that more than 90 % agreed that “liveness detection” was an urgent area of improvement in the biometrics industry. The ability for a sensor to distinguish a live fingerprint from a spoof was stated as an industry priority.
A string of product and partnership announcements so far during 2017 has verified that anti-spoofing is indeed an industry priority. The emphasis on security has increased with the fast-growing use of fingerprint technology in application areas that require a higher level of security – especially mobile devices, but also laptops, door locks, cars and other IoT devices.
By 2020 almost six out of ten financial transactions are expected to be performed via biometric authentication, primarily via fingerprint sensors in mobile devices. But identity theft and fraud is rampant and without any sufficient anti-spoof protection for fingerprint sensors, mobile commerce will be at risk. You don’t have to have a PhD in software engineering to produce a fake finger that could con an unprotected fingerprint sensor to authorize a purchase. Fingerprints are left on numerous surfaces and it is possible to readily acquire a latent fingerprint in under 60 seconds using a variety of known methods.
So, what is anti-spoofing and how does it operate with fingerprint technology? The above and more is covered in Precise Biometrics’ white paper “Spoof and liveness Detection for the Mobile Biometrics Market”, which is free to download here. The White paper gives an easy-to-understand introduction to spoof and liveness detection; how a fingerprints spoof is done, current anti-spoofing solutions, and the standardisation work to find ways to evaluate spoof detection.
The white paper also describes Precise Biometrics’ software based anti-spoofing solution, that has been integrated into our industry leading fingerprints software Precise BioMatch Mobile, providing an effective combination of fingerprint matching and anti-spoofing capability for mobile units. The anti-spoofing enhanced Precise BioMatch Mobile is the main item in a security suite with products and services for efficient spoof and liveness detection.
Watch video about our spoof & liveness detection solution for mobile devices
