As more individuals take to the internet to perform daily tasks or operations of high importance, the issue of authenticating someone’s ID has become a hot topic. Concerns over fraud and identity protection have heightened calls for a more secure ID verification process, while the COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need to reliably identify individuals and interactions in a variety of situations.
These concerns have led to calls in Germany and beyond for effective ID authentication. One of the most highly regarded solutions, able to rapidly identify large numbers of individuals using multiple biometric modalities, is MegaMatcher ABIS, developed by Lithuanian company Neurotechnology.
“MegaMatcher ABIS can process large volumes of biometric data at high speed using a combination of different biometric traits: fingerprint, palmprint, iris and facial recognition,” explains Denis Kacan, Product Manager at Neurotechnology. “Its fast and accurate biometric matching system makes it ideal for large-scale applications such as civil identification, voter registration, homeland security, law enforcement, social services, as well as commercial uses across telecommunications and finance sectors”.
Real-world success
Due to its ability to handle large volumes of biometric data, MegaMatcher ABIS has been chosen for the task of authenticating individuals and de-duplicating entries in India’s Aadhaar national ID programme. Together with consortium partner Tata Consultancy Services, Neurotechnology is deploying a de-duplication system aimed at ensuring accuracy and integrity in the existing database of 1.3 billion people – a figure that’s estimated to rise to more than 2 billion over the next seven years.
MegaMatcher ABIS was also used during the 2020 general elections in Ghana, where it successfully de-duplicated the electoral roll of 17,027,641 eligible voters. Using fingerprint and/or facial matching, the system identified 15,860 multiple registrations, helping the Ghana Electoral Commission to ensure the security and integrity of the vote.
AI pioneer
Founded more than 30 years ago, Neurotechnology is one of the first companies in Lithuania to work in the fields of biometrics and artificial intelligence (AI). Its first product – a fingerprint recognition system for use in criminal investigations – was launched in 1991. Since then, the company has developed more than 200 products, receiving recognition in the form of top rankings from international institutions, including the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.
In addition to MegaMatcher ABIS, Neurotechnology offers a range of proprietary AI and biometrics products, including NCheck Bio Attendance – a contactless biometric attendance management system for workplaces, events and other gatherings; StockGeist – an AI-powered platform for monitoring stock market sentiment in real time; Focusonics – a directional speaker system that uses ultrasound technologies to create a highly focused beam of sound in commercial and public environments; and SentiSight – an online image recognition platform that helps people to build, train and deploy their own image recognition models.
“Neurotechnology’s solutions have been successfully implemented around the world, in both the corporate and government sectors,” says Irmantas Naujikas, Director of Neurotechnology. “By dedicating attention and gaining an in-depth understanding of individual clients, we’ve built long-lasting relationships with multiple partners in Germany, who use our biometric technologies to deliver secure ID solutions every day. Being one of the most technologically advanced economies, Germany continues to attract innovative solutions from around the world. We see this as an opportunity to present our expertise and the latest technology in AI and biometric solutions”.
