As controversy grows over necessary facial recognition for cell phone activation, the federal government dismissed the potential for private data leaks, stating that “no biometric data is saved or preserved in any respect.”
The Ministry of Science and ICT held a briefing on the Authorities Advanced-Seoul on Dec. 24, asserting that “telecommunications corporations acquire facial pictures from identification playing cards and facial video data of ID holders throughout the facial recognition course of, conduct real-time comparability, and after confirming whether or not they’re the identical particular person, solely retailer and handle facial recognition outcomes (Y·N).” Which means private data resembling facial pictures is deleted instantly after id verification throughout the activation course of and isn’t individually preserved or saved, eliminating the danger of leakage.
In accordance with Decisionside, the personal firm accountable for constructing the system, optical character recognition (OCR) pictures of identification playing cards is first carried out on cellphones for facial recognition. The captured data is encrypted and transmitted to the facial recognition system. Subsequently, real-time captured facial data can also be delivered to the system in an encrypted state. The facial recognition system compares and authenticates the transmitted ID pictures and facial data, and this course of is accomplished inside roughly 0.04 seconds and instantly discarded after authentication ends. Decisionside defined that “the transmitted encrypted data is structured to be not possible to decrypt even when stolen by hackers.”
The ministry emphasised, “Nonetheless, we’re totally reviewing the potential for private data leakage or publicity which may happen, and if crucial, we are going to seek the advice of with data safety specialist businesses to examine the safety system of the facial recognition system.”
At the moment, facial recognition is utilized solely to home identification playing cards (resident registration playing cards and driver’s licenses). In accordance with the ministry, for international identification playing cards which have excessive system growth issue, extra growth is underway to arrange for utility within the second half of subsequent yr. When a system for verifying the authenticity of alien registration card pictures linked with the Ministry of Justice is launched on the identical time, the impact of blocking international “ghost telephones” is anticipated to considerably enhance.
Beforehand, the federal government started a pilot implementation of id verification procedures by way of facial recognition from yesterday to forestall so-called “ghost cellphone” crimes the place cellphones activated with stolen or solid identification playing cards are exploited for voice phishing or smishing. In the course of the pilot interval, cell phone activation is feasible even when facial recognition fails. Contemplating that digitally susceptible teams such because the aged primarily go to shops for face-to-face activation, the federal government plans to strengthen on-site response to make sure enough steerage is supplied at distribution networks resembling businesses and gross sales retailers, and to watch and analyze person inconveniences.
The ministry said, “When formal operation begins on March 23 subsequent yr, the federal government, telecommunications corporations, and associated businesses will work collectively to watch and constantly examine and enhance activation procedures in order that steady resolution operation actively prevents fraudulent activation and considerably resolves person inconveniences.”
