Neurotechnologija releases face-matching software for smartcard security
systems
23 November 2007 Lithuanian company Neurotechnologija, a provider of
high-precision biometric identification technologies, has introduced the
Smartcard Face-Match, an add-on for the company's VeriLook and MegaMatcher
face identification engines.
Smartcard Face-Match stores and verifies biometric facial information on
a smartcard, allowing individuals to maintain and protect their own
information. It provides an extra level of security compared to either smart
cards or face identification alone, and when coupled with
Neurotechnologija's VeriLook or MegaMatcher face template generation
algorithms, it provides fast, accurate and reliable facial identification
for applications such as secured entry, computer system user authentication,
financial transactions and medical data access among others. Unlike simple
face identification systems, which store, retrieve and match biometric
facial information on the camera/scanner side of the system, the new add-on
uses match-on-card technology to store the original reference template of
unique biometric information, in this case a face template, right on the
smartcard. A microprocessor embedded in the card does the matching of face
templates so that personal biometric information does not transfer to an
external computer as it would in a more basic template-on-card system. A
system using Smartcard Face-Match screens a subject by first taking a
digital photograph of the subject's face (most standard digital cameras,
webcams and security cameras can be used). The face's biometric features
(also known as a candidate template) are passed to the smart card where the
matching process against the reference template stored on the card takes
place. The only information that is passed back to the external reader is
the final verification decision. The user is provided access to the
confidential information or services for which authentication was required
only if the verification decision is positive. The new technology offers
several advantages over simple smartcard or face-identification systems,
including:
- enhanced security: two-factor authentication checks both the
validity of the smartcard and the identity of the person presenting the
card;
- privacy: the original template remains on the smartcard, providing a
safeguard against misuse of information or fraudulent scanning systems;
- Integration: implementing the system will not require major
overhauls of existing infrastructure.
"We are pleased to release our second offering in the area of
biometric smartcard technology," said Algimantas Malickas, CEO of
Neurotechnologija. "Both the Smartcard Finger-Match and Smartcard
Face-Match add-ons take advantage of our fast and accurate algorithms to
provide an added measure of security and privacy for users and offer a
great opportunity for developers and system integrators who want to
provide this technology to their customers." The matching algorithm
may be used on any smartcard implementing the JavaCard 2.2.1 standard and
having 9.2 KB of EEPROM and 525 bytes of RAM (these cards are widely
available) and can perform verification on the card in circa 0.8 seconds.
Thus, it enables verification-on-card solutions with smartcards that have a
smaller size of persistent and transient memory available. The add-on was
developed utilizing a set of ISO/IEC standards (7816-3:2006, 7816-4:2005,
7816-11:2004) enabling easy integration into existing smart card and/or
biometrical systems. To top
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