What are the risks of a biometric leak?

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The experts interviewed by RBC disagreed on how critical a biometric data leak could be. "If we assume that there has been a real leak of biometric data since 2006, then this could have serious consequences for passport holders," said Ilya Tikhonov, head of information security at Softline. "This could become a good tool for creating deepfakes using artificial intelligence. For example, a photo paired with a voice is used by banks to identify clients. In addition, many microloan services request a photo of a person next to a passport, and artificial intelligence can easily create such a fake photo, given data from the foreign passport database," said RBC's source.

According to Vladimir usa mobile number database Arlazarov, CEO of Smart Engines (developer of the passport recognition system), if an intruder "got into the inner loop," there is a risk that he could also overcome the codes that protected the data. "If suddenly an intruder really did gain access to personal data, then in this case an incredibly large biometric database is declassified," Arlazarov said. The risks of this leak, in his opinion, lie in the possible compromise of biometric data. "If your biometric data is known, then your identity can be faked from the point of view of any biometric data verification system," the expert reasons. He advises in the event of biometric data leaks "to change your passport, prohibit transactions via digital channels and be vigilant." "Systemic solutions from the state are also needed to protect citizens in such situations. For example, to use biometrics only for control, but not as an identifier of a person," Vladimir Arlazarov reasons.

But Alexander Thomas, PR director at NtechLab (the developer of the facial recognition system), pointed out that "biometric data is always stored only as a set of numbers that attackers cannot use or decipher in any way." "Artificial intelligence assigns each face a feature vector or biometric template - a sequence of numbers. And then compares these templates with each other. When working with features, even if access is gained, it is impossible to restore the original image of the face," he insists.