TECHNOLOGY TODAY ISSN 0969-4765 January 2020 Security Contents
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biometric TECHNOLOGY TODAY ISSN 0969-4765 January 2020 www.biometricstoday.com security Contents Kaspersky reports surge in cyber-attacks News Kaspersky reports surge in cyber-attacks on on selfies and other biometry selfies and other biometry 1 Seattle airport halts its facial ID rollout 2 major rise in cyber-fraudsters Kruglov, commented: “The existing situation New UK Government backs biometric A stealing people’s selfie photos and with biometric data security is critical and border control 3 other biometric data has been discov- needs to be brought to the attention of industry US and China among most invasive users of biometrics 3 ered by security giant Kaspersky. and government regulators, the community of The company released a report last month information security experts, and the general NatWest unveils biometric fob for contactless payments 11 that found over one-in-three computers pro- public. Though we believe our customers are Amsterdam airport’s facial ID fooled by cessing biometry – such as fingerprint, face, cautious, we need to emphasise that the infec- simple photo 11 voice and iris templates – were targeted by tion caused by the malware we detected could NIST launches datasets to help cut error rates 12 malware in Q3 2019. Overall, 37% of servers have negatively affected the integrity and con- and workstations running Kaspersky software fidentiality of biometric processing systems. Features were attacked by cyber-criminals in what it This is particularly the case for databases where The future of biometrics in policing calls “a surge in fraud related to the stealing of biometric data is stored, if those systems were worldwide 5 personal and confidential documents through not protected.” The use of biometrics by police forces worldwide photos and selfies, often required for registra- To protect against cyber-attacks, Kaspersky has hit significant hurdles, including bans in several US cities and a halt of police biometric tion or identification purposes”. experts advise: trials across the UK over mass surveillance Kaspersky’s ‘Threats for biometric data pro- • Minimise how exposed biometric systems concerns. But equally police forces are under cessing and storage systems’ report also strongly are to the internet and internet-related threats. pressure to use this cost-effective technology to fight crime. Jason Tooley of Veridium examines criticised the security efforts made by biometric It is better if they are a part of air-gapped infra- how the police can best address the public’s systems suppliers, saying: “It is remarkable how structure. fears of facial ID and data privacy, to reap the careless biometric authentication system devel- • Ensure the highest level of cyber-security benefits of this maturing technology. opers and users are about protecting these sys- is applied to the infrastructure that contains Ready for take-off: how biometrics tems and the biometric data collected by them biometric systems, including extensively train- and blockchain can beat aviation’s against computer attacks.” ing operating staff to resist possible attacks. quality issues 8 Kaspersky cited last year’s BioStar 2 breach • Regularly conduct security audits to iden- Biometric systems have been widely embraced by the aviation industry, but significant barriers when up to 1 million fingerprint records and tify and eliminate possible vulnerabilities. still prevent their universal adoption, says facial images were exposed on an open database Kruglov added: “We believe that exposing Zamna’s Irra Ariella Khi. She suggests that a by South Korean security platform supplier biometric systems to random cyber-threats is combination of biometrics and blockchain technology could ensure airlines and airports Suprema (see BTT, September 2019). a huge risk for both the service provider and trust biometrics to accurately verify their Kaspersky said the threats posing the big- the people who have entrusted their biometric passenger data and provide the secure data gest danger to biometric data processing and data to it.” sharing and standardisation they need. storage systems include spyware, phishing Kaspersky’s report also highlighted the Regulars attacks – mostly spyware downloaders and danger of over-confidence in biometric secu- Events Calendar 3 droppers – ransomware and banking Trojans. rity, saying: The concept of biometric data News in Brief 4 And the company warned: “It can be expected as a unique personal identifier that cannot be Product News 4 that mass-distributed malware designed to steal forged is fundamentally wrong and can foster biometric data from banks and financial sys- a false sense of security. Biometric data, once Company News 4 tems will appear in the near future.” compromised, is compromised for good: users Comment 12 Kaspersky’s analysis shows that the internet is cannot change their stolen fingerprints the the main source of threats to biometric systems, way they do stolen passwords. An individual including malicious and phishing websites, and will therefore potentially be affected for the web-based email services. rest of his or her life.” Visit us @ Kaspersky senior security expert, Kirill Continued on page 2... www.biometricstoday.com ISSN 0969-4765/20 © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This publication and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by Elsevier Ltd, and the following terms and conditions apply to their use: Photocopying Single photocopies of single articles may be made for personal use as allowed by national copyright laws. 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Some 20 US air- The Boulevard Langford Lane which found that an average of 90 voice fraud ports have already introduced NEC NeoFace- Kidlington attacks occur every minute in the US. Pindrop based systems. Oxford OX5 1GB, UK described “skyrocketing fraud rates”, with Seattle devised its new strategy after seeking Tel: +44 1865 843239 Email: [email protected] voice fraud attacks climbing more than 350% the views of airlines, cruise lines, federal agen- Website: www.biometricstoday.com between 2014 and 2018. cies, and civil liberty and migrant rights groups For the report, Pindrop analysed over 1 bil- in public meetings late last year. The civil soci- Publishing Director: Sarah Jenkins lion phone calls at large call centres in the US, ety groups raised concerns about FRT’s threat Editor: Tim Ring including eight of the top 10 banks, five of the to privacy and inherent bias. Email: [email protected] seven leading insurers, and three of the top five Port of Seattle Commission president, financial services companies. Stephanie Bowman, said: “We feel that our Production Support Manager: Lin Lucas Email: [email protected] The report identifies the latest security community expects more than to have this threats, including deepfakes and synthetic voice kind of technology rolled out without any Subscription Information attacks. It said: “In the near future, we will public discussion or input. We know of more An annual subscription to Biometric Technology Today see fraudsters call into contact centres utilising than 20 other airports that have implemented includes 10 issues and online access for up to 5 users. synthetic voices to test whether companies have facial recognition technology, but no other Port Subscriptions run for 12 months, from the date payment is received. the technology in place to detect them, particu- has undergone a public process to ensure that larly targeting the banking sector.” implementation would protect passenger rights, More information: www.elsevier.com/journals/insti- Pindrop said these attacks are dependent and be limited, transparent and ethical. When tutional/biometric-technology-today/0969-4765 on deep learning and generative adversarial this Commission adopts policies, we will have This newsletter and the individual contributions contained in it are networks (GANs), a deep neural net architec- the opportunity to create the nation’s best prac- protected under copyright by Elsevier Ltd, and the following terms and conditions apply to their use: ture comprised of two neural nets, pitting one tices for public-facing biometrics.” Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier Global Rights against the other. GANs can learn to mimic Seattle Port said it will only use facial ID to Department, PO Box 800, Oxford OX5 1DX, UK; phone: +44 1865 any distribution of data – augmenting images confirm passengers’ identity, replacing its cur- 843830, fax: +44 1865 853333, email: [email protected]. You may also contact Global Rights directly through