iProov, a leading provider of biometric facial verification technology, has become the first British – and overseas – company to be awarded a contract from the US Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate’s Silicon Valley Innovation Program (SVIP).
The contract has been awarded to iProov to help US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) improve the passenger entry operation process.
The London-based firm was founded in 2011 by CEO Andrew Bud and the company’s facial biometric technology, patented in the US and UK, is used by banks and governments around the world for secure customer onboarding, log-on and authentication, to ensure new and returning users are genuine and guard against fraudulent attempts to gain access to personal data or use a stolen identity.
The contract iProov has won will see the company develop technology that aims to enhance cross-border passenger travel at unmanned ports of entries while reducing processing time. It could help US CBP quickly, accurately and reliably identify travellers as they process through US border crossings.
At the heart of this announcement is iProov’s Flashmark technology, deployed in its secure, cloud-based facial biometric verification system that can be accessed via a user’s mobile phone.
In this case, iProov’s technology will work with existing CBP systems, on which travellers’ details are pre-registered. In the run up to arrival at the US border, whether at home or en-route, travellers would be able to self-serve the document check that normally happens at the point of border crossing, by authenticating themselves securely to their pre-registered photo, via their mobile phone. The process is simple, much quicker than waiting in line and more secure than traditional methods.
Dr Liam Fox, Secretary of State for the UK Department for International Trade, said: “The UK and US are world leaders in cybersecurity. Through close cooperation across various sectors, trade between the two countries has grown to £181.2 billion pounds in 2017 – making the US our largest trading partner and biggest export market.
“One example of our shared economic and security ties is UK based iProov technology, which uses cutting-edge facial biometric verification technology to enhance security and deter those who seek to cause harm. It is now used by a range of institutions across the world and will soon be used by the US Customs and Border Protection, helping to enhance the way it processes people through US borders.”
The reason iProov was selected comes down to its ability to detect ‘spoofs’. In a self-serve identity verification environment, the system must be able to confirm whether or not the person presenting themselves for verification is genuinely the owner of the ID credential, not a photo, screen image or doctored video. iProov has 10 granted patents in the UK and US for the technology that can detect these spoofs, and in this way is uniquely able to help governments tackle the pressure they are under from increased traveller numbers to swiftly but securely verify each and every traveller.
iProov’s CEO, Andrew Bud, said: “We are delighted that iProov has been selected by the US Department of Homeland Security to enhance the way in which it processes people through US borders.
“Advances in Machine Learning and AI have enabled a revolution in facial biometrics in the last few years and we’re now seeing more and more cases of governments and banks turning to self-service, spoof-resilient face verification as the biometric of choice to both increase security and ensure ease of use.”
He described the impact of the contract as ‘transformational’ for iProov. “We have had tremendous interest from all over the world, with amazing opportunities arising, we think just out of this expression of trust which has been placed in us through the placing of this contract,” he said. “It gives buyers the confidence to believe that we do what we say we do and everybody wants very badly what we say we do.”
What does the decision say about the kind of technology being produced in the UK?
Bud said: “It can only be a huge expression of confidence in the cybersecurity industry of the UK that such an important American institution is prepared to look beyond its borders and buy from us.
“I think it says a great deal about the quality of the industry in the country, a great deal about the effectiveness of links between industry and university, an enormous amount about the impact that Innovate UK has and a lot, frankly, about the value of the support that the Department of Media, Culture and Sport is giving to the cybersecurity sector.”
