The start-up company Mobai wants to give privacyenhancing facial recognition a face. In this project, we will, among other things, explore whether they have come up with a form of facial recognition that does not actually count as biometrics (in the legal sense).
SALT stands for Secure privacy preserving Authentication using faciaL biometrics to proTect your identity, and is a project that aims to develop an AI-based authentication solution for use in both the private and public sector, to fight fraud and improve the end-user experience. The main motivation is to provide an advanced security measure to prevent ID theft and account takeover.
It is no secret that both the Norwegian and European data protection authorities believe that facial recognition - and especially facial recognition in combination with artificial intelligent analysis - is a demanding and challenging topic with high risk. If it turns out that Mobai has come up with a technological solution that "takes the best" of facial recognition as a method, without taking the risks, this is privacyenhancing innovation with great and exciting potential.
- To us, it is absolutely crucial to discuss the use of biometrics with the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, so that we can develop a secure and privacyenhancing solution for facial verification as a measure against increased fraud, says Brage Strand, CEO of Mobai.
Backing them, Mobai has solid expertise from several areas. The team includes BankID, Sparebank1 Østlandet, NTNU and the Center for IT and IP Law at the University of Leuven in Belgium. They therefore want to look at how face recognition can be carried out in a more secure way, which also gives the user more control. The solution must make it possible to use facial recognition for simpler and more secure authentication of users of banking services, thereby reducing the risk of fraud and abuse.
What are you most excited about ahead of the process?
- We are most excited about whether we have prepared well enough in advance; that we are able to present the project in a simple and understandable way, and not least we look forward to good discussions about the challenges and opportunities together with the Norwegian Data Protection Authority. We are also excited about whether themes will emerge during the sandbox period that we have not thought about beforehand.