During the era where desktops and laptops remained in homes and offices, their mobility restricted by a wired internet connection, passwords became the standard for user authentication and account access. However, the proliferation of mobile devices and wireless connectivity has created security concerns that passwords fail to solve. Server breaches happen daily resulting in hundreds of millions of personal records and passwords being stolen. However, biometric technology, especially facial recognition, holds universal promise for solving security challenges associated with user authentication. With the goal of replacing passwords entirely, the west-coast firm, FaceTec offers innovative 3D face recognition solutions to authenticate users.

FaceTec’s “ZoOm” is a 3D face login software development application (SDK) that matches users via recognition algorithms and verifies liveness with artificial intelligence using onboard two-dimensional cameras.

Focusing on universal accessibility, the application captures biometric data through the smartphone’s front-facing selfie camera. ZoOm uses the camera to capture high-resolution video frames of a user’s face, which are processed instantly as biometric data. The intuitive ZoOm interface is easy to use, and the entire enrollment process only takes a few seconds. “Simply center your face in the oval that comes up on your screen like you are taking a selfie and then zoom in,” explains Kevin Alan Tussy, CEO, FaceTec. The phone camera captures 15 to 30 frames during the “ZoOm” motion and records how the user’s face bends and morphs as the camera gets closer to their face. FaceTec’s proprietary algorithms track the changes in thousands of data points in milliseconds and produce a dynamic perspective 3D authentication from a standard 2D mobile device camera. FaceTec has developed a suite of machine learning classifiers that compare the different facial attributes of live humans like skin texture, and eye movement to determine that the correct live human is present, preventing 2D photo or video spoofing.

ZoOm authenticator is compatible with any modern Android or iOS smart device and “continuously learns” to improve performance after every authentication— resulting in increased reliability and security, irrespective of camera quality or lighting conditions. “When it comes to performance, ZoOm is superior to other biometrics like fingerprint and iris scanners,” claims Tussy. The company has successfully demonstrated a way to break Apple’s Face ID technology featured on the iPhone X and cites 3rd party testing that shows ZoOm to be virtually spoof-proof. FaceTec’s solution does not require special hardware and is not limited to a Match/No Match result; it also generates risk scores and maintains audit trails.

The majority of FaceTec’s integrations are with financial and government institutions that require utmost security of confidential information yet need to grant frictionless access to verified users. FaceTec has made ZoOm free for small businesses with less than $10 million in revenue per year, educational and non-profit institutions, startups, and developers. App Publishers can easily integrate ZoOm into their applications with just a few lines of code to provide a secure means of authentication. “We are now offering a server-side matching solution that incorporates our on-device FIDO UAF certified solution to allow clients to append biometrics templates to a root identity. This provides portability and onboarding without the need to set up passwords,” states Tussy. Consequently, stakeholders can combat different frauds that on-device “yes/no” generators are incapable of combating, adding substantial value beyond simply opening the device, and giving third-party service and app providers actual control over the security features that protects their franchise. FaceTec is excited to announce Forge Rock, HYPR, Karalundi, and many other systems integrators are reselling ZoOm all over the world to help elevate biometric security, and solve the problem of fraud and identity theft.