Biometric user verification has become a popular way to replace passwords and PINs, but the lack of an industry-defined program to validate performance claims has led to concerns over variances in the accuracy and reliability of these solutions. To fill this gap, the FIDO Alliance launched the Biometric Component Certification Program – the first such program for the industry at large.
The program has been developed by a diverse, international authority of stakeholders from industry, government, and subject matter experts and offered by accredited laboratories worldwide to certify that biometric subcomponents meet globally recognized performance standards for biometric recognition performance and Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) and are fit for commercial use.
Discover the Benefits of Biometric Component Certification
The FIDO Alliance delivers several benefits to providers and users of biometric recognition systems through the new Biometric Component Certification Program. Until now, due diligence was performed primarily by large enterprise customers who had the capacity to conduct such reviews. This required biometric vendors to repeatedly prove performance for each customer. The FIDO Alliance program allows vendors to test and certify only once to validate their system’s performance and re-use that third-party validation across their potential and existing customer base, resulting in substantial time and cost savings.
Benefits of Certification For Biometric Vendors
- Independent validation of biometric performance
- Opportunity to understand gaps in product performance to then improve and align with market demands
- Demonstrate product performance to potential customers
- Improved market adoption by holding an industry-trusted certification
- Leverage one certification for many customers/relying parties
- Reduce need to repeatedly participate in vendor bake-offs
Benefits of Certification for Service Providers
- Independent validation of biometric performance
- No need to maintain own program for evaluating biometric products
- Accelerates FIDO adoption to password-less
- Commitment to ensure quality products for customers of the relying parties
- Requirements developed by a diverse, international group of stakeholders from industry, government, and subject matter experts
- Evaluation conforms to ISO standards around biometric evaluation
- FIDO Annex published in ISO standards
FIDO Alliance Biometric Component Certification complements other FIDO Certification programs, providing end-to-end certification for the entire account lifecycle, including authentication, step-authentication and remote identity proofing.
