Expert & Sector Groups

This group will:

• Cover good practices and advice around security for biometric systems. This will incorporate and expand on the existing BVAEG material. 
• Collect, in a place that only members can access, a list of common and publicly available hacks for biometric systems – and maintain this.
• Act as a gateway for security testing services. 
• Facilitate sharing between members of good techniques for reducing security risks around biometric systems.
• Work towards some public demonstrations by vendors at BI events of their SPD solutions.
• Identify promising research and promote new research into relevant security topics.
• Liaise with other BI groups to ensure issues around security and integrity are adequately addressed. 

Criteria for nomination:

• Demonstrate that this group is relevant to your job, that you have some expertise and hold some kind of security clearance or equivalent. Having published something isn’t necessary. 
• As it is a security group, there will be a vote from existing members prior to submission to the Board of Directors for approval. Numbers will be limited. 

AD-HOC BIOMETRIC VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT EXPERT GROUP/RESPONSE TEAM (BVAEG)

 This group (a sub-group within the BSIEG) will:

• Respond as quickly as possible to any major biometric breaches or vulnerabilities that are detected. This would only be a few times per year. This will be done through the CEO.
• Provide either a public, or for members only, statement about the situation and mitigations that the Institute’s Chief Executive would disseminate as the organisation’s spokesperson. 

Criteria:

Members are mostly expert researchers, plus potentially some industry representatives who have demonstrated expertise and ideally published in this area. The researchers understand the technical implications but breaches commonly also involve business factors that could be assessed by industry representatives. 

 To find out more, please email: manager@biometricsinstitute.org.

Role:

The group is working according to the precept that, despite the need to be compliant with the specific requirements of national jurisdictions, the group’s approach is truly international. Technologies such as biometrics operate across national boundaries and the operation of this group reflects that internationalism.

Members of this group include a range of member stakeholders from government, social media, privacy advocacy, academia and private sector.

Role:

The Technology Innovation Expert Group focuses on the provision of accurate and unbiased technical information, training and education to the board and members of the Biometrics Institute. It has developed out of the Technical Committee which was established in 2003.

Short-term Goals (2018):

• Completion of a Good-Practice Guide, ‘Understanding Biometrics’.
• Quarterly virtual meeting with a clear agenda to ensure that the TIEG stick to the mandate as provided by the Institute.
• Share innovative literature and implementations with the Institute to ensure the Institute keeps its members up to date with new applications of biometrics.
• Allow members to submit queries regarding technology innovation to the group for opinion.
• Work closely with the Academic Innovation and Research group to filter new technologies on the horizon and identify where they are being used by early adopters.

Long-term Goals:

• As appropriate, play an active role at Institute events, highlighting innovation that has come into implementation.
• Help position the Institute as the de-facto go-to place for members to seek information and guidance.
• Identify sectors where biometrics can make processes easier for the consumer and focus on possible application of them.

To achieve these long-term goals, interaction with the Institute members may be via webinars, blogs and newsletters.

What next for the group?

To keep the group active takes an investment of time from all the members, with a clear strategy for the next 2 – 5 years. To provide value to members of the Institute, the group must play an active role in the events of the Institute. 

To find out more, please email manager@biometricsinstitute.org.

Objectives of the Group:

The Digital Identity Expert Group focuses on how to bring the benefits of digital identity to consumers and providers. Authentication, identity, multiple identities, stolen identities, self-sovereign vs cloud/server based models, privacy and consent, oversight, legal and regulatory issues are all central to the digital services provider and will be discussed within the Group.

There are three topics which have become the focus of exploration within our meetings:

• Identification Domain – addressing Identity Proofing and establishing the ‘real’ identity.
• Authentication Domain – squarely addressing Digital Identity and how to manage that across multiple areas.
• Authorisation Domain – addressing the problem of Virtual Identity and what level of authorisation is needed to access certain resources based on the credentials offered.

 Areas of discussion may include:

• What is digital ID?
• Standardisation and assurance.
• Solutions for payment products.
• Effective oversight and data protection.
• Cultural and social issues with digital ID.
• The unbanked.
• Risk management.
• What causes the least amount of friction for the customer?
• Portability – moving your biometrics from one device to another.
• Sovereignty – providing the right tools for customers to protect themselves.
• How to on-board the customer. Does this need to be a combination of a physical and digital channel or can it be fully automated?
• Why liveness detection is important.
• Could AI help with the risk of morphing?
• Who controls the digital ID? Self-sovereign model versus cloud/server based model.
• How can a digital ID be re-established once compromised?

The Group engages in teleconferences (due to our international member base) every three months and aims to meet face to face when possible (usually once a year during London Congress week). The Group will often consider use cases in their meetings to focus on specific issues and areas. These are presented by members of the Group or external speakers. Members may include government agencies and the private sector, such as financial services (banks), retail, healthcare and aviation. The group was established in September 2016.

The academic research community represents an important part of the Biometrics Institute membership. This committee has been set up to create even closer engagement between the research community and the broader biometrics industry. It offers a fantastic opportunity to create greater visibility and opinions on current research. The aim of the group is to become an influential channel for relevant developments from the research community to be communicated to industry, government and the public.

Role:

• It aims to foster leading-edge developments in the Biometrics area related to both applied and fundamental research into human identification.
• It reviews the academic paper submissions for Biometrics Institute conferences. 

• It facilitates collaborative research, development, evaluation work – with an emphasis on application/business scenarios

Group members will send their contributions for a Recommended Reading list that will be shared with the broader membership.

To find out more or to join the group, please email manager@biometricsinstitute.org.  

Role:

This group has developed out of the Government User Group and government only meetings that the Biometrics Institute has held since 2002 and where the Institute’s activities originated.

The Institute holds a regular Identities at the Borders events and also covers this subject in the London and Sydney conferences.

Given the significant challenges faced by border agencies today, and the rapidly moving state of technologies and systems to help manage them, it is more important than ever for decision-makers to keep abreast of major border system projects currently underway, especially those involving biometrics. With so much change and so much investment at stake, the highest levels in government need to assure themselves that they have the right strategies in place, and that their border systems will deliver the best possible outcomes.

The Institute as a user group is perfectly placed to independently facilitate dialogue in this sector. A regularly teleconference facilitated by the Institute is held to share information.

To join the group, please email manager@biometricsinstitute.org. This Group is for border agency officers only.

Current members include:

(Head of group) Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Australia 
DHS Information Sharing Policy
DHS Screening Coordination Office, Biometric Strategy
DHS Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM)
DHS Information Sharing Policy
Immigration Canada 
German Federal Office of Administration 
Passports Australia 
Australian Federal Police
UK Home Office
UK Border Force
ICA Singapore 
Immigration New Zealand