In digital identity verification, active liveness is a critical security technique that combats presentation attacks (attempts to impersonate someone using photos, videos, or masks). During verification, users perform specific on-screen actions, like blinking, smiling, or turning their heads. This extra step strengthens security by making it significantly more difficult for fraudsters to spoof identities.
Types of Liveness Checks: Active vs. Passive
There are two main approaches to liveness checks: active and passive. Here's a breakdown of each:
1. Active Liveness Checks
This method requires users to perform specific actions on-screen during verification. These actions, prompted by the system, might involve blinking, smiling, turning their head, or following a moving object with their eyes. By requiring user interaction, active liveness checks make it significantly harder for fraudsters to spoof identities using static images or pre-recorded videos.
2. Passive Liveness Checks
This approach analyzes characteristics inherent in the captured data, such as facial blood flow patterns or subtle eye movements, to determine liveness. Passive checks typically happen in the background without any specific user actions required. While convenient, passive checks can be more susceptible to sophisticated spoofing techniques using deepfakes or specially crafted videos.
Active vs. Passive: Understanding the Balance
While both methods aim to achieve liveness detection, the choice between active and passive liveness depends on the specific needs and threat models of the application. Each has its advantages and limitations:
Stronger Security with Active Liveness:
By requiring user interaction, active liveness makes it considerably more difficult for fraudsters to bypass verification using static images or videos. This is especially crucial in situations where deepfake technology might challenge passive checks.
Convenience with Passive Liveness:
Passive liveness is less intrusive and can offer a smoother user experience since it doesn't require specific user actions. However, it might be less effective against high-level spoofing attempts.
Smile ID's Approach to Active and Passive Liveness
Smile ID employs both active and passive liveness detection techniques to ensure comprehensive and robust identity verification:
Active Liveness with Biometric Authentication
Our Biometric Authentication solutions leverage active liveness with exceptional accuracy (99.8% face matching) and a seamless user experience. During verification, users simply smile for the camera, with our system capturing multiple shots simultaneously. This approach is effective even in environments with lower bandwidth or on less powerful devices, making it ideal for the African market.
Selfies vs. Active Liveness
With facial recognition being the go-to option for biometric verification, businesses often have to choose between two kinds of facial verification methods: selfies or liveness tests. Both options rely on the verification of facial features, taking into account factors like face detection, feature extraction, and an analysis of the distance between facial features.
Selfie verification is straightforward – a user takes a selfie, which is then compared to a photo on an official document like a passport or driver's license. It relies on facial recognition technology to match facial features in both images. Selfie verification has the benefits of being a familiar, user-friendly process and being fast to authenticate. However, some selfie-verification algorithms can be vulnerable to high-level spoofing attacks, especially those using photographs or videos.
Liveness tests go a step further, requiring users to perform actions like blinking, smiling, or head movements. These actions enable the algorithm to determine if the selfie is being taken in real-time. These tests are harder to spoof because they require users to make real-time, spontaneous actions. Liveness tests provide better security with the ability to catch synthetic media and deepfakes.
Conclusion
Active liveness is a technique employed to verify that a subject is a real, living person rather than a fraudulent or non-living entity. The term 'active' denotes the requirement for user participation, specifically involving actions such as smiling during the verification process. This technique is integral to a broader liveness detection system that determines the life status of an individual.
To learn more about our Smile ID’s technology and how it can help your business stay compliant, schedule a demo with one of our experts here.
