UIDAI to add face recognition feature to enhance Aadhaar security

Recently there has been an ongoing debate about data security and privacy concerns following reports about Aadhaar data leak. If you are unaware, last week, the Tribune report, widely shared on social media, claimed that it had got access through an "agent" to every detail of an individual submitted to the UIDAI including name, address, postal code, photo, phone number and email and found in its investigation that unauthorised persons had gained access to people's personal information.

However, UIDAI later denied all allegations and confirmed that the Aadhaar data, including biometric information, was fully safe and secure. Following that, UIDAI just a few days back also announced a new two-layer system to strengthen the security of Aadhaar number holders which would do away with the need to share the unique ID for verification purposes.

Now, the government firm has yet again announced that it is soon going to roll out face authentication feature as an additional security measure for Aadhaar verification. The new feature is likely to be introduced by July according to reports and once introduced this feature would make it convenient for those who have difficulty in authentication through fingerprints or iris.

As per the information provided, the new face recognition feature would be used only in "fusion mode". What that means is that the feature would be valid only when used along with one more authentication feature be it fingerprint or iris or one-time password (OTP).

"UIDAI has decided to enable face authentication in fusion mode on registered devices by July 1, 2018, so that people facing difficulty in other biometric authentication (fingerprint and iris) could easily authenticate," the firm has said.

"This facility is going to help in inclusive authentication of those who are not able to biometrically authenticate due to their worn out fingerprints, old age or hard work conditions," it added.

Meanwhile, data security has become one of the important factors in today's digital world. As more and more information is connected and available on the internet it is important that strong security measures are applied to keep it safe and secure.

"Aadhaar number being a permanent ID for life, there is a need to provide a mechanism to ensure its continued use by the Aadhaar number holder while optimally protecting the collection and storage of Aadhaar number itself in many databases," UIDAI said last week during the introduction of Virtual ID mechanism.

It added that while it is important to ensure that Aadhaar number holders can use their identity information to avail products and services, the collection and storage of Aadhaar numbers by various entities has heightened privacy concerns.