The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has announced the launch of a vendor competitive tech demo of remote identity validation technologies, sparking a “tremendous” response from companies.
Held in partnership with the Transportation Security Administration, the Homeland Security Investigations Forensic Laboratory, and NIST, technologies will be ranked in a series of technical assessments to evaluate the performance of systems to validate identity documents, complete identity verification using images taken on smartphones and authenticate physical identity documents.
NIST also conducts broad tests to rate biometric technologies for reliability, accuracy and inherent levels of bias, with the market now overcoming bias.
The demo will challenge solution providers in the industry to deliver only secure, accurate, and easy-to-use remote identity validation technologies which can be deployed in successful use cases, combating identity fraud, theft and compromising of data systems.
Track 1 is now closed for new applications, which will focus on authenticating identity documents. Applications will soon be open to submit biometric solutions for testing in Track 2, assessing technology matching capabilities of software between identity documents held in a system with selfie-style photos.
Arun Vemury, Lead of S&T’s Biometric and Identity Technology Centre commented:
“Since we announced the Remote Identity Technology Validation Tech Demo, we’ve received a tremendous response from technology users and developers. It’s clear there is a strong interest in a robust and collaborative process to strengthen these capabilities to combat fraud”
He continued: “As we move forward with the next test track, we invite technology developers to submit technologies capable of detecting when fraudsters attempt to use lost or stolen genuine IDs to open new accounts or apply for benefits. This track will test how well software compares face photos on ID documents to selfies and determine whether the images are of the same person.”
Image credit: Department of Homeland Security logo
