People in the biometrics industry, know very well how the trend towards the use of biometrics is increasing by the day. Earlier, it was finger-print based solutions and today is the gradual but trendy shift towards facial recognition. Even though fingerprints have been operating longer, facial verification seems to be getting more spotlight than fingerprint-based solutions ever did. The reason? The cultural stigma of adopting ‘the better’ ‘the cooler’ functionality. The advent of Apple’s Face-ID glamoured it further. Another being the global presence of the mobile user-base. Despite its popularity, facial recognition systems are increasingly coming under hurdles of their own that are causing much concern to FR Tech.
How Facial Biometric Technology is being Threatened
With the introduction of any new technology comes scrutiny later on when the technology matures out a while. The same is the case for biometric technology and in specific, facial recognition technology. Facial biometric when introduced was revolutionary and quite the trendsetting technology. However, today the case is a little different with regards to the scrutiny it has come under after being utilized in the industry for a while.
The scrutiny of facial biometrics is spoofing elements that are used to attack a facial recognition system. Like fingerprints, which were prone to be spoofed by fake silicone or skin-like textured fingers to gain access into a system. A Facial verification system has also come under a similar situation. No, there are no fake faces but other intuitive ways are employed to fool a system to gain access to a platform.
Contrary to the popular perception that facial recognition systems were spoof-proof, facial recognition systems, especially the legacy and earlier versions had no spoof detection in place and were strongly vulnerable. These FR Tech solutions were spoofed through digital print attacks by displaying an individual’s photo on a digital device. Also, video playbacks of an individual’s face looped recursively to establish a sense of naturalism were shown.
Preventing Compromise to Facial Verification
As facial verification became more widespread, so did the rise in spoofing attacks encountered by facial recognition systems. In order to curtail the repeated attacks that these systems were facing. It was evident that facial verification procedures needed to be drastically improved to increase their effectiveness. This included establishing measures for suitable facial spoof detection. Anti-spoofing measures prevent the FR system to be deceived by suspected spoofing elements and prevent future attacks. Under facial verification, the most common and widespread anti-spoofing measure is ‘Liveness Detection’. Liveness Detection ensures to assess the real-ness of the individual undergoing facial verification, to prevent the system from being accessed by fraudulent individuals through illicit ways. Liveness detection is a combination of checking eye movement and guided head movement, which includes blinking and corresponding face movement.
Facial verification is in use globally around the world and is gaining more popularity by the day. However, it is imperative to improve FR Tech with requisite spoof detection procedures and hardware updates. To ensure suitable protection against facial spoof attacks from happening again.