Chinese government teams up with WeChat to offer digital social security cards

China’s social security system turns to WeChat for electronic ID — South China Morning Post — “Government trials in 26 cities will have Tencent’s WeChat replace traditional state-issued social security cards with digital version tied to users’ accounts… The WeChat-based electronic social security cards will enable users to provide their identification, status, payment records and other relevant information to official online inquiries about benefits and insurance coverage.”


Guangzhou pilot lets consumers use WeChat to create an official digital ID

WeChat poised to become China’s official electronic ID system — South China Morning Post — “The WeChat ID programme was co-developed by the research institute of the Ministry of Public Security and Tencent’s WeChat team, and supported by various banks and several other government departments. The project is expected to help deter online identity theft, as facial recognition technology is used to verify applicants before their virtual ID cards get authorised. Those verified will be able to use their WeChat ID to register in hotels and apply for government services without the need of bringing their physical ID cards.”


US survey finds growing support for biometrics as a replacement for passwords and PINs

Visa survey reveals consumers are ready to say goodbye to passwords — Visa — “Seventy percent of respondents find biometrics easier than passwords and 61% consider it faster. Fewer than a third of consumers use unique passwords for each of their accounts. Fifty percent of consumers responded that the top benefit of using biometrics is eliminating the need to remember multiple passwords or PINs, followed by 46% who said that biometrics is more secure than passwords or PINs for verifying identity.”


Avis pilots mobile car rental keys

Continental, Avis turn phones into rental car keys — Roadshow — “Using a smart device, renters will be able to lock, unlock and even start their rental car without needing to hunt down a physical key or key fob… For now, the pilot program is limited to a single market — the Kansas City area. But, if all goes according to plan, it’s likely to roll out to additional markets in the future.”


Samsung looks to palm recognition to secure mobile devices

Samsung’s new phones might literally read the palm of your hand — Futurism — “Recent patent filings by the South Korean electronics giant show that the company may be investing in yet another means of biometric scanning. Samsung’s palm recognition technology would join other biometrics, such as facial recognition and fingerprint scanning, along with standard passwords, pin numbers, and patterns as a means of securing your device.”


Acuity forecasts a trillion biometric transactions in the cloud by 2022

Biometrics in the cloud to authenticate more than one trillion transactions annually by 2022 — Acuity Market Intelligence — “By 2022 more than 5.5bn biometrically-enabled mobile devices will create a global platform that supports one trillion cloud-based biometric transactions annually… Acuity projects annual biometric transaction revenue will increase from US$474m in 2017 to $18bn in 2022 exceeding a 100% CAGR.”


Swiss consumers to get single digital ID

Just one password? Swiss groups plan single online identity — Reuters — “Swiss consumers will be able to use a single digital identity to buy online products and services under a project unveiled on Tuesday by nine big companies. The aim is to let people use just one login profile to order in shops, buy train tickets or do banking transactions, according to the consortium… It includes UBS, Credit Suisse, Swisscom, Swiss Post, stock exchange operator Six, Raiffeisen, Swiss Railways, Zuercher Kantonalbank and insurer Mobiliar.”


Apple details its face detection algorithm

An on-device deep neural network for face detection — Apple — “Apple started using deep learning for face detection in iOS 10. With the release of the Vision framework, developers can now use this technology and many other computer vision algorithms in their apps. We faced significant challenges in developing the framework so that we could preserve user privacy and run efficiently on-device. This article discusses these challenges and describes the face detection algorithm.”


Video shows that children could use Face ID to unlock their parents’ iPhone X

This 10-year-old was able to unlock his mom’s iPhone using Face ID — The Verge — “While Apple has admitted that false positives can happen, it was thought this could only happen with twins, or siblings under the age of 13. However, a new video has popped up showing a 10-year-old unlocking his mother’s iPhone, suggesting that any family members who bear enough resemblance might be able to bypass the system.”


Canadian banks, carriers and government back blockchain-based digital IDs

Forget iris scans, Canadians to use blockchain for digital IDs — Bloomberg — “Soon Canadians will be able to verify personal information for everything from driver’s licenses to banking using mobile phones and blockchain… Canada’s six largest lenders, including Toronto-Dominion Bank and Royal Bank of Canada invested C$30m (US$24m) in the project. The country’s three main wireless carriers — owned by Rogers Communications Inc, Telus Corp and BCE Inc — are also involved through their EnStream venture, along with a number of provincial governments.”


Cybersecurity firm demos mask that can unlock an iPhone X

This $150 mask beat Face ID on the iPhone X — The Verge — “Vietnamese cybersecurity firm Bkav claims it’s been able to bypass the iPhone X’s Face ID feature using a mask… The firm does stress that the product is just a proof of concept at the moment and more research is needed… ‘Exploitation is difficult for normal users, but simple for professional ones,’ Bkav said.”


Face ID reported to take longer to unlock an iPhone than Touch ID

iPhone X Face ID slower than Touch ID (but there’s a fix) — Tom’s Guide — “I’ve been using Face ID on the iPhone X for more than 24 hours, and I don’t need a stopwatch to tell you that it unlocks my phone slower than when I was using Touch ID on my older iPhone 7 Plus… It took 1.2 seconds from pressing the side button to the iPhone X’s screen turning on and for the phone to recognize me and unlock the device. And it was another 0.4 seconds to swipe up to get to the lock screen. Total time: 1.8 seconds.”


Researchers build ID data into smart clothing

How to store information in your clothes invisibly, without electronics — University of Washington — “Most people today combine conductive thread — embroidery thread that can carry an electrical current — with other types of electronics to create outfits, stuffed animals or accessories that light up or communicate… The UW researchers realized that this off-the-shelf conductive thread also has magnetic properties that can be manipulated to store either digital data or visual information like letters or numbers. This data can be read by a magnetometer, an inexpensive instrument that measures the direction and strength of magnetic fields and is embedded in most smartphones.”


Finger vibration biometric could allow authentication on any solid surface

Security system identifies users by finger vibrations — Futurity — “A new low-cost security system called VibWrite could eventually use finger vibrations to verify users… It includes an inexpensive vibration motor and receiver, and can turn any solid surface into an authentication surface… During two trials, VibWrite verified legitimate users with more than 95% accuracy and the false positive rate was less than 3%.”


Researchers develop continuous biometric login for smartphones

NSF grant to develop one-handed smartphone authentication — Illinois State University — “The interactions, such as strokes, that users make with their thumbs when working with smartphones can be very unique,” said Lai, who is an assistant professor in the School of Information Technology. “We can use these interactions to identify different users. This is what we call thumb biometrics.”



Eight in ten air travellers want to store their passport on their phone

Passengers want technology to give them more control over their travel experience — IATA — “82% of travelers would like to be able to use a digital passport on their smartphones for as many travel activities as possible, from booking flights to passing through the airport. Biometric identification systems were the technology of choice with 64% favoring biometric identifiers as their preferred travel token.”


Apple: No change to Face ID quality and accuracy

Apple says claim that it reduced accuracy of Face ID to meet demand is ‘completely false’ — Techcrunch — “The statement from Apple: Customer excitement for iPhone X and Face ID has been incredible, and we can’t wait for customers to get their hands on it starting Friday, November 3… The quality and accuracy of Face ID haven’t changed. It continues to be one in a million probability of a random person unlocking your iPhone with Face ID.”


Apple cuts Face ID performance to address iPhone X production issues

Inside Apple’s struggle to get the iPhone X to market on time — Bloomberg — “As of early fall, it was clearer than ever that production problems meant Apple Inc wouldn’t have enough iPhone Xs in time for the holidays. The challenge was how to make the sophisticated phone — with advanced features such as facial recognition — in large enough numbers… Apple came up with a solution: It quietly told suppliers they could reduce the accuracy of the face-recognition technology to make it easier to manufacture.”


Face ID to add privacy layer to lockscreen notifications

iPhone X and iOS 11 bring a welcome change to iOS lockscreen notifications — Phone Arena — “The Apple iPhone X will only show lockscreen notifications with actual content when it knows you are the one who is watching and if it’s somebody else, they will only see the notification source, but not the notification content itself (which might be sensitive).”