Facial biometric checks, also know as “face authentication,” are meant to protect businesses from fraud by ensuring that users are truly present during remote verification.
Sumsub, an online verification identity service that helps onboard millions of users annually, examined the efficiency of face authentication and found differences in the time needed to complete facial biometric checks for users on different operating systems.
For Linux, Windows and Android users, the process takes more than 50 seconds; whereas applicants on MacOS and iOS (Apple) devices need less than 39 seconds. Sumsub notes this difference could be a sign that Apple users are more accustomed to face authentication.
In most countries, the whole verification process with face authentication takes less than a minute. The U.S. spent about 45 seconds.
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The average global pass rate for facial biometric checks is 95%, with some differentiation between countries. “Selfie with ID” checks have an average pass rate of around 83%, according to Sumsub.
The research suggests that it’s more convenient for people to get authenticated by showing their face, rather than taking a selfie while holding their ID card.
Though facial biometric checks can be used alone, they’re usually combined with ID document verification, which effectively replaces ‘selfie with ID’ checks.
Why facial biotmetrics fail
Almost all (94%) of facial biometric checks fail due to improper conditions. Almost half of these (47%) are due to poor video quality or failure to perform the movements required to complete the check.
There are also situations when the user’s face is too small (27%) or too large in the frame (16%). In 5% of cases, the applicant’s face is otherwise not properly visible, according to Sumsub.
Possible digital manipulation can account for errors occurring during facial biometric checks. The most common attempts are are bypass attempts (70%) such as screenshots, photo manipulation, physical/digital masks, or sophisticated deepfakes and 3D models.
Other common attempts at defeating the face authentication system involve the use of different devices or people (16%). The remaining cases (<14%) have to do with forced verification and malevolent attempts with devices placed too close to the applicant’s face
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