The International Biometrics + Identity Association (IBIA) has questioned a provision in the Senate Commerce Committee's “TSA Modernization Act” (S. 1872) that calls for the vetting of applicants into TSA's PreCheck Program by means “other than biometrics”The IBIA believes that biometrics must remain at the core of the PreCheck vetting procedure for security and privacy reasons.It calls the move a watering down of the enrollment criteria into PreCheck, that creates a security risk for the nation at a time when its security risks are growing.[B]ackground screening that does not include a biometric lacks the necessary accuracy to identify security risks”, said According to Tovah LaDier, IBIA's managing director, pointing to IBIA research that the true match rate of fingerprint-based background checks by the FBI is 99.6% using the FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) database. “There is no public information that name-based biographic background checks have an accuracy rate remotely close and, indeed, no there is no data at all.”The IBIA adds that there is no nation-wide commercial database that has access to all criminal information except the FBI database, meaning that the algorithms used by commercial background check companies are incomplete. Equally important is that biographic background checks based on information from commercial data brokers are a serious threat to privacy. It is based on names and personal information derived from social media, location information, retail purchase history, and blog posts and is commonly known to be inaccurate.Recent large-scale breaches have demonstrated that commercial biographic databases are also vulnerable to identity theft and hacks. The personal biographic data, addresses, driver's license numbers, and credit card numbers that would be collected, have real value to cybercriminals and fraudsters, leaving them susceptible.This provision has major implications for security and privacy and should not be rushed through. The IBIA urges the Senate Commerce Committee and Congress to reconsider its plan to allow for non-biometric risk assessment for enrollment in the PreCheck program. To maintain critical security in prescreening programs, state-of-the-art biometrics must be included.
Recent Video
- New non-profit trade association of HAND will standardise global talent ID
- No cards, no phones: J.P. Morgan’s biometric revolution in payments
- Anthony Vidiano on building the future of access management
- Charisma Check wins 2025 Start-Up Pitching Competition, advancing identity verification and background checks for dating app users
- How to protect one billion Amazon customers: Lessons from continuous risk assessments
