TikTok Talks Back: Identity News Digest

Welcome to FindBiometrics’ digest of identity industry news. Here’s what you need to know about the world of digital identity and biometrics today:

Biometric Solutions

BIO-key has added a facial recognition feature to its MobileAuth authentication app. The company is a long-time specialist in fingerprint recognition, but has in recent years revitalized its business model with the integration of a more general multi-factor solution, PortalGuard, thanks to a strategic acquisition. CEO Michael DePasquale had revealed BIO-key’s plans to add support for facial recognition, as well as voice recognition, to the MobileAuth app in a corporate update last summer. Read our full story for more.

Transmit Security has rebranded its portfolio, consolidating its BindID, RiskID, FlexID, VerifyID, and UserID solutions into a single package, the Transmit Security CIAM Platform. The move comes after Transmit Security launched BindID, which leverages IoT devices’ face and fingerprint recognition capabilities, in February. The rebrand was unveiled alongside some impressive growth metrics, including a 40 percent YoY revenue increase for H1. Read our full story for further details.

M&A

Eltropy, a digital communications platform provider focused on financial services, has acquired Marsview.ai, a speech recognition and conversational AI specialist. Eltropy says the acquisition will allow it to offer a number of voice interaction solutions to its credit union and community banks customers, including “biometrics-based authentication to ensure consumer privacy and access.” Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Regulatory Developments (So to Speak)

Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party has decreed that technology firms will be required to store all user data locally, and to establish local data storage offices, within 12 months. This applies to data “ranging from financial records and biometric data to information on people’s ethnicity and political views,” the decree explained. Government authorities will have the right to request user data for investigative purposes. The decree comes from a government that “maintains tight media censorship and tolerates little dissent,” according to Reuters.

Airport Biometrics

Three major Canadian airports have teamed up with SITA to deploy new passenger processing kiosks. Calgary International Airport, Montréal-Trudeau International Airport, and Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport will begin installing “over 700 new-generation check-in kiosks and boarding technology” early next year, according to a joint statement from the organizations. Pearson International Airport in particular has been decried as one of the worst in the world in recent media coverage.

Take It Back: TikTok

TikTok has formally asked the Chief Administrative Officer of the US House of Representatives to rescind a cybersecurity memo advising lawmakers to avoid using the video sharing app. The CAO Office of CyberSecurity had cited TikTok’s lack of transparency, excessive data collection, and possible security risks. Michael Beckerman, the head of TikTok’s public policy division for the Americas, sent a letter to the CAO chief decrying the memo’s “factual inaccuracies” and asking for its retraction.

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August 18, 2022 – by Alex Perala