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India To Add Facial Authentication For Its Aadhaar Card Security (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the tussle-continues dept.

India will build facial recognition into its national identity card in addition to fingerprints after a series of breaches in the world's biggest biometric identification programme, the government said on Monday. From a report: A local newspaper reported this month that access to the "Aadhaar" database which has identity details of more than 1 billion citizens was being sold for just $8 on social media. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues the identity cards, said it would add face recognition software as an additional layer of security from July. Card holders will be required to match their photographs with that stored in the data base for authentication in addition to fingerprints and iris scans, the agency said in a statement.

9 of 20 comments (clear)

  1. They add complexity to try to secure these systems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    In reality, they are simply making them more and more easily infiltrated and hacked. In the future, you will able to be anyone, and get information on anyone.

  2. India offended massive id database valued only 8$ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Decided to add information to make it more valuable.

  3. The complete biometric package $9,99 by volodymyrbiryuk · · Score: 5, Funny

    It will get hacked again. And then what? They'll add a stool sample authentication layer? They will be running out of biometric attibutes soon.

    --
    sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
    1. Re:The complete biometric package $9,99 by amicusNYCL · · Score: 1

      I don't know who thought faces are a great authentication tool. Faces are not unique on a level usable as practical authentication, and they can change (makeup, facial hair, etc). In other news today there's a Google app to find someone who looks as much like you as possible from a database of paintings and other art. So, on one hand, there's a fun app to find things that look just like you, and on the other is a group of people trying to make faces authentication. It's a stupid idea from the first time it was suggested until now. In that first meeting, all someone had to say was "but what about twins?" or "but what if my wife changes her makeup?" or "but what if I shave?" Which is it - is it going to be so secure that it can distinguish two twins apart, or is it going to be flexible enough to allow changes to one's appearance? Because it can't be both, and if it's so secure that it can reliably detect any one person all the time, then it's going to be inflexible if that person's appearance has changed in any way. "I can't get into my car unless I take my makeup off."

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    2. Re:The complete biometric package $9,99 by volodymyrbiryuk · · Score: 1

      You are talking about faces I am talking about feces buddy. They might look the same for some people but they are not.

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      sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
  4. Overkill by nospam007 · · Score: 2

    "match their photographs with that stored in the data base for authentication in addition to fingerprints and iris scans"

    IOW you'll never get on a plane again or get your money from the bank.

  5. So adding another column in the database by Beeftopia · · Score: 1

    So... adding another column in the database is going to make this more secure, how?

    If an intruder... already has the value they want to match...ssn, fingerprint, drivers license... giving them another BLOB field helps security how?

    Wow.

    It's like I noted in the "Using computers for elections" thread - these systems are very easy to conceive of, but very hard to implement. And the devil's in the details.

  6. I wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If their facial recognition is using this implementation

  7. Re:They add complexity to try to secure these syst by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

    Realizing the importance of the case, my men are rounding up twice the usual number of biometrics.