Privacy and Data Integrity in Biometrics

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Abstract

While biometric data is typically used for recognizing individuals, recent work has demonstrated the possibility of extracting additional information from the data. For example, attributes such as age, gender, ancestral origin and health cues can be gleaned from face images. These attributes are referred to as "soft biometrics" in the literature and can, in many cases, be used to improve the accuracy of a biometric system. However, their extraction may also be viewed as compromising the privacy of subjects.

In addition, the principle of digital forensics can be used to deduce the camera used for acquiring the biometric image ("source attribution") as well as the relationship between a set of subtly modified biometric images ("image phylogeny"). This has applications in detecting digitally tampered images; establishing chain of custody; determining sequence of modifications in deliberately altered images; performing both biometric-recognition and sensor-recognition from the same biometric data; verifying the integrity of the biometric data; etc. In this talk, we will discuss the application of image forensics to validate biometric data and also present methods that can enhance personal privacy.

Biography

Arun Ross is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University, and is the Director of the Integrated Pattern Recognition and Biometrics (iPRoBe) Lab. He also serves as the Site Director of the NSF Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR). Ross conducts research on the topic of biometrics, privacy, computer vision and pattern recognition. He is a recipient of the JK Aggarwal Prize and the Young Biometrics Investigator Award from the International Association of Pattern Recognition for his contributions to the field of Pattern Recognition and Biometrics. He was designated a Kavli Fellow by the US National Academy of Sciences by virtue of his presentation at the 2006 Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposia. Ross was an invited panelist at a counter-terrorism event organized by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) at the UN Headquarters in 2013. He has advocated for the responsible use of biometrics in multiple forums including the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Identity and Security in Switzerland in 2018. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the 2005 Biennial Pattern Recognition Journal Best Paper Award and the Five Year Highly Cited BTAS 2009 Paper Award. Ross is the co-author of the monograph “Handbook of Multibiometrics” and the textbook “Introduction to Biometrics”.

Arun Ross
Michigan State University, US