How does liveness detection work?

Biometrics is without a doubt the most secure form of authentication and infinitely superior to more traditional methods such as passwords and access passes.

That said, even biometric authentication is open to presentation attacks such as spoofing. This is why liveness detection is key.

Liveness detection is any technique used to detect a spoof attempt by determining whether the user is in fact a real person, and the right person, or actually a fake representation of that person.

In facial recognition, for example, liveness detection is used to distinguish between a live person and a 2D photograph, a digital representation of that person’s face, or even a 3D mask. One solution to this is a challenge-response test, where on-screen instructions would ask for specific eye or face movements, like tilting your head or following a small dot with your eyes. A passive liveness check occurs without direct user input by tracking subtle involuntary movements such as blinking, background or reflection analysis, which has distinct advantages for the end user as well as overall security.