Biometric Update https://www.biometricupdate.com Biometrics News, Companies and Explainers Tue, 09 Jun 2026 21:05:33 +0000 en-US hourly 1 66434804 Certification becoming trust signal for procurement and market positioning https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/kantara-workshop-highlights-certification-as-procurement-signal https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/kantara-workshop-highlights-certification-as-procurement-signal#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 19:59:57 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=344672 One consequence of the explosion of synthetic media and AI-generated identities is that trusted identity infrastructure has become strategically valuable again. As regulated industries demand stronger evidence of compliance, certification is increasingly becoming both a procurement requirement and market differentiator. Compliance, long treated as a back-office exercise, is increasingly emerging as a visible trust and sales signal. What’s concrete is cool again. A workshop from the conformity assessment body (CAB) Kantara Initiative looks at how a trust mark can put you ahead of competitors, as organizations demand more than compliance-as-optics and qualifications that are little more than marketing. Renee Hunter, the treasurer for Kantara’s board and CLO of Proof, says certification as a market signal is not just a check box. “It’s not just an audit for an audit’s sake. It’s really important that we all think through why compliance is important.” There is a shift happening, as senior executives face more pressure to make sure services are genuinely compliant. Andi Hindle, who is on the Kantara Initiative advisory board and is the chair of Identiverse, says there is “much more awareness of downstream risks of providing poor-quality, potentially breachable, less reliable services to customers.” A key question is emerging: “Do you understand why we do the due diligence to get a certified vendor?”

‘Self-assertion is breaking down’

As is the case with online age assurance, self-declaration is losing legitimacy as a way to prove compliance. “You can trust us, we’re compliant” no longer works, and referencing standards or security levels like NIST IAL2 in the U.S. and UK DIATF high confidence does not change that there has been no external certification. Critically, claims of certification also don’t prove that the auditor themselves are certified. The result is a chain of untrustworthiness. “Who guards the guardians?” asks Lisle. “You want to know that an audit has been done well. You want to know your product is being assessed properly and fairly.” This is how the Kantara Initiative occupies a central role. Kantara ensures third-party verification of auditors, measured against an independent standard in ISO/IEC 17065. Certification is fully auditable, and regularly monitored through surveillance audits. “17065 essentially is that reassurance for you,” Lisle says. “You know that when someone comes in and audits the product, that that process has been done the right way.”

NIST, DIATF, new OpenID program shows expanding scope for Kantara

Kantara certifies against the NIST SP 800-63 Identity Assurance Framework in U.S., DIATF in the UK via Kantara Ltd., and the OpenID Foundation Conformance Program globally. Speaking on the evolution of the NIST framework, Hunter notes that the recent Revision 4 testing regimen is  “unique because it really componentizes identity for the first time, which is helpful, since that is the nature of the identity marketplace.” For the DIATF, Kantara accredits across five roles: Identity Service Provider (ISP), Attribute Service Provider (ASP), Orchestration Service Provider (OSP), Holder Service Provider (HSP, wallet provider) and Component Provider. The Kantara Trust Mark is recognized by the UK government, and Kantara is the only UKAS-accredited conformity assessment body (CAB) in the UK. The new OpenID Conformance Program marks Kantara’s expansion to global assessment, and is the first to not be tied to a government. As an Authorized Auditor for the OpenID Foundation’s newly independent conformance testing program, Kantara assesses those who want to become Approved Testing Service Providers.

Strong, specific signal, not a panacea

Hunter underlines the importance of scope – both in what assessment is and isn’t, and in terms of how broadly it should be applied. She says certification tells you that an auditor was qualified and independently verified. It is a strong signal “covering a specific, defined service scope” – not the whole company. A Kantara Trust Stamp applies only to what has been assessed. Asking for a “whole business” assessment without understanding the details could lead to major scope creep – and could get very expensive. Certification also can’t make companies comply, and can’t guarantee that a vendor is immune to fraud, breach or failure. It’s not, in other words, a substitute for vendor due diligence: “you still need to know what your vendors are doing.” What Kantara can do is revoke licenses if conformance lapses. Both Hunter and Lisle note that certification is not a one-time event. Reliable information means consistency, and yearly surveillance audits are intended to ensure that there is no compliance falloff. Both also repeat that Kanatar can, and will, remove Trust Marks as needed.

If you’ve got a trust mark, flaunt it

Hunter explains how her experience with Proof has taught her about the deeper value of certification. A Trust Mark is “visible, auditable, differentiation” – and, most importantly in a procurement context, “terminates a particular objection in the sales process.” Proof started leading with compliance and referencing certifications early on, putting it on its marketing materials, but also building conformance into the culture of the organization. The assessment process forces organizations to document and defend their controls, and institutionalizes rigor – which makes the job easier going forward. Kantara highlighted several considerations organizations should understand before undergoing assessment. Defining scope is key. Gap analysis will find things. Auditors should not be easy. “An audit by a rigorous auditor is worth more to relying parties than a light-touch audit.” Surveillance audits are real and should be approached as such. And, finally, the Kantara Trust Mark is only valuable if it is visible. “Tell people you have it. Lead with the Trust Mark,” Hunter says. Lisle points out that, in certain scenarios, it now sells itself, because it’s a requirement to get past the RFP stage. “That’s an active change in the market.” The next frontier for Kantara is the world of wallets, for which it is helping to build privacy and assurance standards. The HSP certification certifies wallets that hold credentials on behalf of users, assessing how a wallet stores, protects and manages the credentials. But certification is not something to put off. Hunter and Lisle call for stakeholders to hold identity providers accountable with certification, urge ID providers to get certified, and suggest that governments build certification requirements into procurement frameworks. The old song-and-dance, in other words, is no longer going to measure up. The chain of trust must be proven. “Vendors need to step up and get certified.”]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/kantara-workshop-highlights-certification-as-procurement-signal/feed 0 344672 IAD testing set to take off as QTSP deadline passes, EUDI Wallet onboarding begins https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/iad-testing-set-to-take-off-as-qtsp-deadline-passes-eudi-wallet-onboarding-begins https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/iad-testing-set-to-take-off-as-qtsp-deadline-passes-eudi-wallet-onboarding-begins#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 19:58:42 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=344716 Independent assessments of biometric injection attack detection (IAD) are about to become significantly more prominent, with the deadline for Qualified Trust Service Providers (QTSPs) to align with eIDAS 2.0 passing on May 21. Youverse traces the inclusion of the IAD standard in the rules for remote onboarding to the EU’s Digital Identity Wallets to Article 24 of eIDAS 2.0 in a recent blog post. “Article 24 turns identity proofing into evidence engineering,” the company explains, by framing identity proofing by QTSPs as a question of evidence, and its trustworthiness. The implementing regulation for EUDI Wallet enrollment passed in April, and Wallets are launching now, with more on the way to meet the November deadline. To onboard people, they will need High-level IAD certification. Onboarding processes that rely on eIDs only meet assurance level “Substantial” only reaches LoA “High” with additional procedures, though. Hence the new regulation, which sets the “reference standards and specifications” for those additional procedures, including the European IAD standard. ETSI 118 461 references standards for biometric matching performance, Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) and CEN TS 18099 for IAD. To issue credentials to EUDI Wallets and Qualified Electronic Signatures (QESs), an LoIP “Extended” to “High” level is required, and high-level IAD certification, along with passing an equivalent compliance assessment for biometric presentation attack detection (PAD), is required for Extended Level of Identity Proofing (LoIP). IAD firms that provide the technology (including Youverse) and labs that offer testing against CEN TS 18099 are explored in-depth in the 2026 Injection Attack Detection Market Report and Buyers Guide from Biometric Update and Goode Intelligence.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/iad-testing-set-to-take-off-as-qtsp-deadline-passes-eudi-wallet-onboarding-begins/feed 0 344716 UK’s proposed OS-level age verification could eliminate part of DVS market https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/uks-proposed-os-level-age-verification-could-eliminate-part-of-dvs-market https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/uks-proposed-os-level-age-verification-could-eliminate-part-of-dvs-market#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 18:59:00 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=344663 The UK government is mooting device-level restrictions on nude images that could usher in a new era of a kid-friendly internet, kill off one of the major segments of the burgeoning domestic market for digital identity and biometrics services, or both. Prime Minister Kier Starmer announced on Monday that the Big Tech companies that provide operating systems for smartphones and tablets – read Apple and Google – will have to implement measures to detect nudity and prevent children from viewing it, or face penalties like those in the Online Safety Act. The Times notes that includes potential criminal charges with maximum sentences of five years in prison. Platforms and OS-makers have been arguing about where in the stack age assurance should happen all along, and messaging services have been a possible gap in the UK’s online safety regime. But if that gap is addressed with ML algorithms on the device that must also be applied to apps and browsers, and can only be turned off at the device level, then the anticipated role for Digital Verification Service (DVS) providers in enforcing age minimums for access to pornography will disappear. Home Office guidance refers to built-in features that can only be turned off “through an age verification process.” It also makes clear the measures are to prevent the possibility that children can “take, share or view” nudity, implying that the ML algorithms will also have to applied to web browsers. “Adults will still be able to take, share or view nude content through an age verification process,” Home Office explains. Both Apple and Google already have content filtering measures for children, such as blocking or blurring images with nudity. The proposed policy would require and expand their use. The problem, the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) points out in a LinkedIn post, is that there is no trusted way for OSs to deliver age assertions to third-party applications currently deployed at scale. The AVPA says that using existing technologies and architectures is the only way the policy can be implemented within the three months specified by the government. “For the UK to proceed with its proposal for device-level controls that block nude images, with age verification used as the adult opt-out mechanism, there are significant technical, legal and commercial issues still to be resolved.” Client-side scanning is fairly widely deployed, but not universal, and OS providers do not generally share the results of their internal, high-assurance age checks to others. Android allows apps from outside its official app store to be installed, which sets up possible circumvention. The policy sparks competition concerns and leaves liability uncertain. Big Brother Watch Director Silkie Carlo says the policy will lead to “population-wide ID checks for all of us to use our phones, tablets and laptops.” “The Government mandating that all phones in Britain require ID and surveillance software is a crossing of the Rubicon that would make the UK one of the most authoritarian internet regimes in the world,” Carlo warns. “This extreme technological censorship requires rigorous public and parliamentary scrutiny that is currently totally missing.”]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/uks-proposed-os-level-age-verification-could-eliminate-part-of-dvs-market/feed 0 344663 UK promises age assurance for social media, device-level child safety controls https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/uk-promises-age-assurance-for-social-media-device-level-child-safety-controls https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/uk-promises-age-assurance-for-social-media-device-level-child-safety-controls#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 18:49:33 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=344595 How many times can a head of government pledge to do something about harmful social media platforms before they’re obligated to pass a law? In the case of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, it remains an open question.  The PM continues to prepare to announce legislation that would set a minimum age to have an account on large social media platforms, which has major implications for the biometric age assurance market. The expectation is that the UK will follow Australia’s lead in setting the age at 16 and older. Reuters reports that Starmer “is said to have decided to proceed with restrictions after speaking to bereaved parents and considering evidence from Australia.”  The agency quotes a government source who says “the prime minister is not afraid about taking on the tech companies and their bosses to protect young people.” But another source says a formal ban is unlikely to come this week. 

Tech executives face possible criminal liability over child safety

While a hard date for a social media minimum age law is elusive, Starmer has gotten more concrete when it comes to stopping kids from sharing explicit images on social media. The proliferation of AI deepfake technology has led to the emergence of “nudify” sites, which allow users to upload a photo and use AI to remove a subject’s clothes or place them in sexually explicit scenes. The UK government says 91 percent of online child sexual abuse reports recorded in 2024 contained self-generated content from children themselves.  In a speech delivered at London Tech Week, Starmer rejects the idea that such exposure is just the price of modern tech. “I am calling on tech companies operating in this country to introduce device controls that prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images,” Starmer says. This, in theory, would involve settings that block nudity across a whole device by default.  A follow-up report from the BBC says the government has set a timer for three months. If big tech companies don’t act to limit the sharing of explicit images by then, “the government will bring forward legislation to force them to activate blocking technology.” The piece mentions fines – which have proven to be largely inconsequential for multi-billion dollar tech companies and their tycoon owners – but also notes that the government has promised “nothing is off the table,” and says the government is exploring criminal liability for tech execs who fail to comply “as a last resort.” 

Is it time to take a second look at the smartphone?

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall says that “no parent should have to worry that giving their child a smartphone opens the door to abuse and exploitation.” Like Starmer, she has more pledges, insisting the government is holding social media platforms to account and “will soon announce our next steps to keep children safe online.”  Yet what feels like foot-dragging may be rooted in a crucial observation that has largely been left out of the discussion about online harms: the devices themselves, Kerndall says, “are part of the problem.”  While Kendall insists they can also be part of the solution, that admission opens the door to a flood of questions about the design of smart devices, society’s addiction to them at large, and their effect on children in particular. Plenty of commentators have described disappearing into a device. Legal attention has thus far focused on the addictive design of platforms and content. But the endless scroll, the slot-machine swipe refresh and the constant notifications model are as much a part and product of smartphones as they are of social media.  The observation highlights a tension in the government’s policy, which is not exclusive to Britain. In Starmer’s speech, the announcement on explicit images comes after a segment in which Starmer hails AI as “an emerging revolution in technology,” and celebrates the rebirth of a shuttered Warrington soap factory as an AI data center. Globally, AI infrastructure is exploding, and leaders at both public and private levels are pushing agentic tech as an inevitability: get on board, the thinking goes, or get left behind.  With the other hand, it castigates social media companies for creating a digital infrastructure of harm. Yet most of these companies come from the same place, and are rooted in the same ideologies, as the leading AI firms.  As such, it is somewhat disheartening to see the UK falling into a cyclical pattern, wherein it happily integrates tech that masquerades as a public good before discovering villainous intentions underneath. Once this kind of tech takes hold, it becomes extremely difficult to reverse; most every government on Earth still maintains an account on X, whose edgelord chatbot Grok famously spat out thousands of images of nude children last winter.  Adopting the language of tech evangelism and insisting that AI is absolutely, without any doubt a world-changing technology that will improve the world is repeating the mistakes made with social media – itself once heralded as a game-changing tool for connection, now recognized as a major risk to kids’ safety. The UK would be wise to remember that what has been called “AI” as a useful abstraction is not, in fact, a mandate from heaven, but a collection of products controlled by individuals who have accrued grotesque wealth pretending they are the angels we’ve all been waiting for. 

Canada to social media: just be nice, eh?

Canada appears to be moving ahead with legislation placing age restrictions on large social media platforms. A report from CTV News says an announcement is expected this week, although in comments to the media Prime Minister Mark Carney was cagey, saying only that his government “will be taking steps to protect people’s data, their privacy and their children.”  The government is framing their policy around “digital safety” rather than “online harms.” It also (rather characteristically) appears to be the first country to frame age restrictions for social media as a potentially temporary measure. Scott Reid, a former director of government communications, tells CTV that “there is a suggestion once those social media platforms have demonstrated their compliance, then perhaps a new digital safety regulator will let young people back on.” ]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/uk-promises-age-assurance-for-social-media-device-level-child-safety-controls/feed 0 344595 Aware upgrades biometric orchestration platform with ROC, Mitek integrations https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/aware-upgrades-biometric-orchestration-platform-with-roc-mitek-integrations https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/aware-upgrades-biometric-orchestration-platform-with-roc-mitek-integrations#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 18:40:06 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=344604 Aware has added ROC and Mitek as biometric technology partners for its digital identity orchestration platform, Awareness, as part of a broad enhancement. Upgrades to the biometric orchestration platform also include enhanced Intelligent Liveness and Intelligent Matching capabilities to help organizations protect themselves from emerging threats like deepfakes, synthetic identities and injection attacks, according to a company announcement. Injection attack detection (IAD) is the subject of Biometric Update’s latest market analysis report and buyer’s guide. Aware’s consolidated SaaS platform for biometric workflow design, enrollment, identification, verification and authentication allows businesses to not only configure biometric workflows, but evaluate multiple biometrics vendors in production and optimize performance without disruptions, according to the announcement. Multiple biometric liveness detection, matching and identity verification providers can be orchestrated within a single transaction. The platform supports fingerprint, iris, palmprint and voice biometric modalities, in addition to face and document verification. Identity and biometrics orchestration is an area of increased focus for Aware. “The future of identity isn’t only about better algorithms. It’s about better orchestration,” says Ajay Amlani, CEO of Aware, in the announcement. “Organizations are under increasing pressure to modernize identity systems while responding to rapidly evolving fraud threats and growing operational complexity. With the latest innovations to the Awareness Platform, we’re giving customers the ability to configure biometric workflows, orchestrate multiple technologies, and optimize identity decisions in real time through a more intelligent and customizable platform approach.” Advanced optical and spectral analysis have been built into Intelligent Liveness to help verify that images were captured on a real device camera in real time without adding any requirements or friction for users. The advanced matching algorithm now built into Aware’s Intelligent Matching product delivers a ten-times lower false non-match rate (FNMR). Its architecture is redesigned for scalability, and can deliver 1:N biometric matching in less than a second across large datasets, Aware says.

ROC and Mitek biometrics, liveness integrated

The complexity of AI fraud threats and digital identity systems leads businesses to implement three different biometrics providers, on average, according to a recent report from Aware on the importance of orchestration. ROC’s high-performance biometric matching technologies can now power decisioning on the Awareness Platform, supporting high-scale, high-confidence identity checks. “Managing biometric systems has become more convoluted and performance-driven than ever,” says B. Scott Swann, ROC CEO. “ROC’s biometric matching technologies help power high-confidence identity decisions within the Awareness Platform while enabling organizations to orchestrate workflows more effectively and gain greater visibility into biometric performance in real-world production environments.” “Identity threats are evolving rapidly, and organizations need modern fraud solutions that can combine security, usability, and operational resilience,” says Faisal Nisar, VP of Product Management at Mitek. “Our liveness detection is trusted by some of the world's most security-demanding institutions, including top global banks, and our partnership with Aware brings that same high-assurance identity verification to their customers." The Awareness Platform updates will become generally available in the third quarter of 2026.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/aware-upgrades-biometric-orchestration-platform-with-roc-mitek-integrations/feed 0 344604 Appeals board upholds 4 FaceTec biometric liveness detection patents https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/appeals-board-upholds-4-facetec-biometric-liveness-detection-patents https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/appeals-board-upholds-4-facetec-biometric-liveness-detection-patents#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 18:35:18 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=344586 The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) has ruled in a fight over intellectual property for biometric liveness detection between Jumio and FaceTec that all four challenged claims are patentable. The Final Written Decisions uphold the patentability of U.S. Patents No. 10,776,471, 11,157,606, 11,693,938 and 11,874,910, which FaceTec describes in its announcement as foundational to its 3D liveness technology. The rulings were in response to separate inter partes reviews Jumio initiated for each patent. Jumio switched its biometric liveness detection provider from FaceTec to iProov in 2021. FaceTec alleges iProov used its IP, and subsequently accused Jumio of also infringing its patents. “This total victory positions us to proceed with the current patent infringement lawsuits against Jumio and iProov,” says Trevor Chaplick, chief legal officer and EVP of Corporate Development for FaceTec. “The PTAB decision firmly establishes the validity of our core 3D Liveness IP. FaceTec is well positioned to seek both injunctive relief against and substantial monetary damages from infringers. These patents are central to FaceTec’s industry-leading 3D Face Verification software suite, which is trusted by enterprises, governments, and financial institutions globally to verify that a remote user is a real person, the right person, and physically present in front of the camera at the time of verification.” FaceTec CEO Kevin Allan Tussy says the rulings fortify protections for the core innovations that make his company’s liveness detection “the gold standard for secure identity verification,” and that FaceTec “will never stop fighting” to defend its IP against “knockoff artists, copyists, serial infringers, and those who assist them.” The reviews were filed by Perkins Coie LLP, prior to its disqualification from representing Jumio at FaceTec’s request last year. The ruling prevents Jumio from having FaceTec’s patents invalidated and the case dismissed. FaceTec is represented by Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, and holds 48 patents in total.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/appeals-board-upholds-4-facetec-biometric-liveness-detection-patents/feed 0 344586 Vietnam looks to Estonia for digital identity expertise and unifying data https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/vietnam-looks-to-estonia-for-digital-identity-expertise-and-unifying-data https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/vietnam-looks-to-estonia-for-digital-identity-expertise-and-unifying-data#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 18:30:59 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=344685 Vietnam is accelerating its digital public infrastructure (DPI) roadmap through a new strategic partnership with Estonia. The collaboration focuses on leveraging Estonia's experience in building secure electronic identity systems and unified data frameworks. It comes as digital identity expertise is increasingly becoming an export as countries deepen partnerships. Vietnam has established national databases and its core digital identity platform VNeID, but policymakers acknowledge there’s a gap between infrastructure deployment and active citizen engagement. Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Bùi Hoàng Phương noted that digital governance only succeeds when public interactions become routine. Vietnam now aims to transform VNeID from a basic authentication tool into a multi-service digital gateway. The Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Science and Technology hosted the joint seminar in Hanoi to refine Vietnam's national digital citizenship strategy. In attendance was Hannes Astok, executive director and chairman of the management board at the Estonian e-Governance Academy, reports Vietnam News. A focus of the bilateral exchange is adopting Estonia's “once-only” data principle. In Estonia, state agencies share data automatically across interconnected platforms so citizens only submit information once. This architectural approach eliminates data fragmentation across different government sectors. Estonian experts noted that secure, state-backed identity systems are essential to maintaining public trust in these automated networks. The Baltic country has been sought out by the likes of Benin, Kenya and Germany for its expertise in digital governance and digital identity, and Cybernetica has been contracted by Côte d’Ivoire to build an interoperability layer. To get to this level of infrastructure maturity, experts recommend Vietnam strengthen its personal data protection frameworks and interconnect its fragmented data platforms. Elevating digital literacy to ensure widespread adoption is another pillar. Deputy Minister of Public Security Nguyễn Văn Long called for increased technical cooperation between the two countries, in areas like research, expert exchanges and the development of common data-sharing mechanisms. Vietnam is targeting 2035 for fully digital citizen–government interactions and wants to develop the VNeID app into a multi-purpose national digital platform.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/vietnam-looks-to-estonia-for-digital-identity-expertise-and-unifying-data/feed 0 344685 MOSIP accredits Fime for biometric device testing https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/mosip-accredits-fime-for-biometric-device-testing https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/mosip-accredits-fime-for-biometric-device-testing#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 18:11:43 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=344630 French digital ID firm Fime has secured accreditation from MOSIP allowing it to conduct accredited biometric device testing for MOSIP-based digital identity programs. According to the company, the accreditation allows its laboratory to provide “independent, internationally recognized validation that biometric devices meet industry standards and MOSIP requirements.” National digital identity programs are sovereign infrastructure as vital as roads, hospitals, or schools, MOSIP’s Vice President for Partner Ecosystems, Sanjith Sundaram remarked after the accreditation. He added: “By accrediting Fime, MOSIP strengthens the ecosystem with independent testing capabilities that ensure biometric devices meet the highest standards of performance, security, and inclusivity.” Governments worldwide continue expanding national digital identity programs, with trust, inclusion and interoperability being among their priority considerations. Trust in digital ID lies largely on the quality of biometric data collected from subjects during enrollment, and this can only be guaranteed if devices deployed meet certain standards and specifications. Fime says the accreditation allows it to support governments in selecting biometric devices for MOSIP-based digital identity deployments during procurement. The accreditation also enables the company to test devices across population groups and deployment environments while supporting vendors seeking participation in the growing MOSIP ecosystem. Commenting on the accreditation, the SVP for Services at Fime, Noël Catherine, emphasized that biometric image quality is a key contributor to a trusted digital ID program. “With this accreditation, we support governments and partners with the validation needed to reduce risk, accelerate deployment, and deliver inclusive identity programs at scale,” she said. Fime’s laboratory is reputed for biometric testing across areas including matching performance, presentation attack detection, biometric data injection attack detection, and bias evaluation in biometric systems for populations of different age groups and characteristics.

MOSIP’s growing role in national digital ID

Biometric device testing for MOSIP falls under the MOSIP Advanced Compliance Program (MACP), which introduces independent testing and certification requirements for laboratories, as explained in a recent report published by Biometric Update. The report explains how the program works and reviews the different labs participating in the ecosystem. The publication, titled Understanding MOSIP: What the Modular Open-Source Identity Platform Is and How It Is Used, delves into how governments, biometric providers, system integrators, and development organizations are building around MOSIP, and explores what this means for interoperability, digital sovereignty, vendor participation, and digital public infrastructure. As more countries adopt MOSIP as part of their digital public infrastructure (DPI) strategies, compliance and marketplace participation are becoming increasingly important pathways for biometrics vendors seeking access to national identity programs and government-led digital transformation initiatives.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/mosip-accredits-fime-for-biometric-device-testing/feed 0 344630 Thales develops upgradeable eID for Estonia https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/thales-develops-upgradeable-eid-for-estonia https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/thales-develops-upgradeable-eid-for-estonia#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 16:55:57 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=344612 Estonia has begun issuing upgraded electronic identity (eID) cards featuring secure elements intended to strengthen long-term cybersecurity resilience. The rollout is led by the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board in partnership with Thales. The eight-year agreement covers the full lifecycle of national identity documents, from issuance to personalization. The agreement covers citizens, residents, diplomats, refugees and applicants for international protection. The new eID cards introduce security features designed to adapt to rapidly changing cyber threats. Officials say the cards’ embedded technologies can be upgraded over time, allowing Estonia to respond to emerging risks without requiring users to replace their physical documents. The redesigned national ID card combines greater physical durability with enhanced digital security. Features including translucent polycarbonate materials, transparent edges and multiple optical elements are designed to improve verification and resist counterfeiting. Beyond physical safeguards, the cards’ software-driven capabilities allow remote updates, ensuring long-term protection for users conducting digital transactions. Thales will also manage issuance and lifecycle operations under the agreement. “Estonia has long been a pioneer in digital identity, and we are proud to support the next chapter of this remarkable journey,” says Nathalie Gosset, VP of identity and biometric solutions at Thales. “These new cards combine advanced document design with strong cybersecurity foundations, ensuring resilience against emerging threats.” The new solution complies with the European Union’s eIDAS regulation, ensuring interoperability and secure access to digital services across EU member states. “Estonia’s digital ecosystem depends on the trust citizens place in their identity documents,” says Liis Valk, head of identity and status bureau, Estonian Police and Border Guard Board. “Thales’ expertise has enabled us to bring world-class security features to every citizen.”]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/thales-develops-upgradeable-eid-for-estonia/feed 0 344612 Facewatch wants to bring live facial recognition to UK pharmacies https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/facewatch-wants-to-bring-live-facial-recognition-to-uk-pharmacies https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/facewatch-wants-to-bring-live-facial-recognition-to-uk-pharmacies#respond Tue, 09 Jun 2026 16:51:09 +0000 https://www.biometricupdate.com/?p=344696 Facial recognition surveillance vendor Facewatch is pitching its live facial recognition (LFR) to UK pharmacies. The company says the technology could help prevent theft and aggression towards staff and is preparing to launch a specialized program dedicated to the pharmacy industry. The move, however, is already facing criticism due to the sensitive nature of access to healthcare. Facewatch PharmacyProtect is designed to help pharmacies that manage and dispense controlled medicines. The product is set to be unveiled at the Pharmacy Show 2026 in October in Birmingham. Facewatch argues that pharmacies face a unique crime profile that distinguishes them from typical retail settings, including deliberate theft of prescription and non-prescription medications, a rise in repeat offenses carried out by organized criminal groups, and frequent incidents of aggression and verbal abuse toward staff. The National Pharmacy Association has been warning about the “alarming” rise in abuse faced by pharmacy staff and often inadequate response from the National Health Service (NHS). “Community pharmacies are on the frontline of both healthcare delivery and retail crime, particularly the rise in organized crime, which we have seen rise sharply in recent years in the wider retail sector,” Nick Fisher, the company’s CEO, says in a statement. The news of Facewatch’s entry into the pharmacy industry was greeted with criticism by advocacy groups such as Big Brother Watch, which argues that facial recognition technology could deter people from seeking healthcare. “Healthcare is among the most sensitive and private aspects of our lives,” says Big Brother Watch Head of Advocacy Jack Coulson. “Any pharmacy using live facial recognition would be forcing members of the public to trade their privacy for healthcare.” Facewatch, which operates as a Data Controller under UK GDPR , says that its system scans faces at store entrances, converts facial images into biometric templates and uses algorithmic matching combined with human review before issuing alerts. If no match is found, biometric data is deleted immediately. The company has been under closer scrutiny for providing LFR to the retail sector, a practice that remains controversial in the UK. The company’s system has faced accusations of mistaking innocent people for shoplifters in the past. “These cases relate to human error in the way processes were carried out in-store, rather than any failure of Facewatch’s technology,” Fisher explained to The Guardian last month. “These three errors are extremely rare cases when viewed in the context of the more than 500,000 alerts we send to retailers each year, but we recognise that any mistake is upsetting for the individual concerned.” Its LFR is used by more than 125 retailers across the UK, including well-known names such as Budgens, Frasers Group, Flannels, Home Bargains, Sainsbury’s and Sports Direct. The technology has helped deter repeat offending by up to 70 percent and generated more than 500,000 real-time alerts about known offenders in 2025, the company notes.]]> https://www.biometricupdate.com/202606/facewatch-wants-to-bring-live-facial-recognition-to-uk-pharmacies/feed 0 344696