Solutions for Cleaning Up a Mess: This Week’s Top Biometrics Stories

This week’s roundup of FindBiometrics’ top stories covers a range of topics, which as a group help to illustrate just how messy the state of security technology is in the present day.

Sybil attacks, for example, are a threat in the emerging and often chaotic web3 space, and new solutions are needed to combat them. Blockchain startup Humanode has found an innovative approach to solving this problem, which co-founder Dato Kavazi discussed in the latest episode of FindBiometrics’ ID Talk podcast:

Sybil Resistance With Biometrics: Interview with Humanode Co-founder Dato Kavazi (pt.1)

Deepfake technology is another cyberthreat that has recently emerged in an attempt to confound biometric security. The tech continues to grow more sophisticated, and has reached a point at which it could be used to trick some biometric authentication systems by producing manipulated images and videos of legitimate users. So Incognia got some attention this week with its announcement of a new deepfake detection tool:

Incognia Launches Deepfake Detection Tool

Then there’s the messy state of biometrics regulations. Readers are always interested in the latest lawsuit news pertaining to Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), and the legislation has now delivered its latest high-profile victim. Google, which ran afoul of BIPA through its use of biometrics to group photos of individuals together in its Google Photos app, has agreed to a $100 million settlement:

Google Settles BIPA Lawsuit for $100 Million

The politics surrounding biometric technology can be messy, too, as demonstrated by recent authoritarian actions on the part of the Russian government. Authorities used facial recognition to identify pro-democracy advocates on the Moscow metro system, leading to the arrests of at least 67 individuals on suspicions that they might disrupt patriotic Russia Day celebrations:

Facial Recognition Aids Authorities’ Mass Arrests On Russia Day

And finally: private markets are a mess. But that doesn’t necessarily mean a dark future for facial recognition startups looking for funding. Readers showed a lot of interest in our latest ID Tech feature, which explains why the facial recognition space might be insulated from the deflating tech bubble, and includes expert commentary from Frost & Sullivan analyst Danielle VanZandt:

ID Tech: Why VCs Are Still Betting On Facial Recognition After the Tech Bubble Burst

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Keep reading FindBiometrics to learn more about the exciting world of biometrics. You can also visit our sibling site Mobile ID World for the latest news in digital identity.

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June 18, 2022 – by Alex Perala