Veridium Rolls Out Fingerprint Verification Pilot In Developing Countries

Veridium, a leader in identity access management solutions using biometrics as the primary authenticator, announced news that it has been awarded a grant from the Digital Financial Services Innovation Lab to develop and field test biometric authentication technology on unmodified Android smartphones, which can improve the way people in developing countries access and enroll in financial and government programs.

With the DFS Tech grant, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Veridium will launch a pilot project in a developing region to allow fingerprint scanner verification to be deployed instantly, anywhere and with no marginal cost.

Low-income and developing areas often lack valid identity documents, which can lead to fraudulent financial activities, money laundering and the diversion of government resources.

“We are excited to have been chosen by the Digital Financial Services Innovation Lab and the [Bill and Melinda] Gates Foundation to participate in this groundbreaking pilot program,” shared James Stickland, CEO, Veridium. “We look forward to being able to make a true and lasting impact on developing nations in their effort to enroll and authenticate individuals in financial and government programs.”

Veridium’s proprietary biometric solution, 4 Finger TouchlessID, captures four fingerprints at once, contactlessly, using a phone’s rear camera and flash. Scanning four fingerprints makes it harder to spoof, and it doesn’t require any additional hardware or sensors. It is also ready to deploy within any custom app using Veridium’s SDK, so there is no need to use hardware peripherals or to buy new biometrically enabled smartphones.

As part of the DFS Tech grant, and through the use of the Android smartphones, Veridium is also developing liveness detection to detect if fingerprints are real and not a photograph. The user will capture two pictures of their fingers, moving them slightly and then a 3D model is created. Photographs will be rejected when the liveness detection realizes the person looking to authenticate is an imposter.