IDEMIA Public Security is a manufacturer of biometric-based access control solutions with headquarters in Courbevoie, France.
SoS visited the company’s stand at Intersec (S2 D30) to learn about how types of biometric identification are developing.
Romain Verollet, a product manager with the company, explained how biometrics will always have an advantage over cards, fobs and even smart devices since potential for “buddy punching”, passback and tailgating is eliminated. Biometrics simply cannot be shared.
IDEMIA see facial recognition as a crucial modality. The company’s offering on this is already sophisticated but is being further developed, and facial recognition can be integrated into QR codes so that as the user presents the code, a check is also done on the face.
Responsive and aware of local culture, IDEMIA has the agility to focus more on biometric recognition from fingerprints in the Middle East where women employees and site visitors may have head coverings so making facial recognition problematic.
The company’s case studies include many banks with high volume cash-handling. Data centres (also an important sector in the Middle East and set to grow significantly) usually require multiple factor identification for staff. A combination of biometrics (possibly even dual biometrics) and pin code is common. The many construction sites in the Middle East must be secured with zero chance of workers impersonating each other in order to share or change shifts without authorization.
IDEMIA are also showcasing mobile credential identification of legitimate staff with Wallet, an app on iPhones or Apple Watches. The app can give users access to a gate, door or turnstile. Apple is the go-to option here but there is also provision for Android using near-field communication (NFC) which is a short-range wireless technology.
Clients do not just benefit from virtually factoring out unauthorised entry to their sites, they can also use reports from the control software to analyse footfall around their premises and perhaps modify layouts based on these reports.
IDEMIA manufactures equipment in Normandy and has a major office in La Défense, a Paris metropolitan area. There is an R&D centre in Paris.
Arun Nair, who works in product marketing, explained how six billion passwords are stolen globally each year. He explained the high levels of identification needed at the more than 50 major banks who use IDEMIA as well as the military and pharmaceutical clients. In the banking sector, IDEMIA’s software can check that a user who has identified themselves to the system is working within usual parameters in terms of transaction volumes.
