ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016
(Main)Information technology — Biometrics used with mobile devices
Information technology — Biometrics used with mobile devices
ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016 provides guidance for developing a consistent and secure method of biometric (either alone or supported by non-biometric) personalization and authentication in a mobile environment for systems procured on the open market. Guidance is provided for - 1:1 verification or 1:few positive identification; - biometric sample capture in the mobile environment where conditions are not well controlled and not covered in ISO/IEC Biometric interchange format standards and the ISO/IEC Biometric sample quality Technical Reports; NOTE 1 Further information regarding architectures may be found in NIST/SP 500-288. - the best use of multiple biometric and non-biometric (PINs, passwords, personal data) personalization and authentication methods (i.e. multifactor). NOTE 2 More information may be found in ISO/IEC 30108‑1. ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016 defines a framework to address methods and approaches for remote and unsupervised enrolment, together with secure storage and transmission of biometric and supporting biographic data, covering a variety of both online connected and offline modes. ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016 identifies the functional elements and components of a generic mobile biometric system and the distinct characteristics of each component. It provides guidance related to a generic mobile architecture with reference to supporting standards. The context recognizes a) the user as being mobile and b) operation across a variety of platforms, particularly mobile devices but also including tablet, laptop and other personal computing devices. The key to defining this context is whether the user's environment is physically controlled by the organization to which the user seeks access.
Technologies de l'information — Biométrie utilisée avec des appareils mobiles
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TECHNICAL ISO/IEC TR
REPORT 30125
First edition
2016-05-01
Information technology — Biometrics
used with mobile devices
Technologies de l’information — Biométrie utilisée avec des
appareils mobiles
Reference number
ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2016
---------------------- Page: 1 ----------------------
ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
COPYRIGHT PROTECTED DOCUMENT
© ISO/IEC 2016, Published in Switzerland
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on the internet or an intranet, without prior
written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of
the requester.
ISO copyright office
Ch. de Blandonnet 8 • CP 401
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva, Switzerland
Tel. +41 22 749 01 11
Fax +41 22 749 09 47
copyright@iso.org
www.iso.org
ii © ISO/IEC 2016 – All rights reserved
---------------------- Page: 2 ----------------------
ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Abbreviated terms . 2
5 The use of biometrics in mobile devices . 2
5.1 Taxonomy of usage of biometrics in mobile devices . 2
5.1.1 General. 2
5.1.2 Generic considerations for all use cases . 2
5.1.3 Access to the device . . 4
5.1.4 Access to the local applications, services and/or data . . 4
5.1.5 Access to the communications channel . 5
5.1.6 Verification/authentication of, or to, a remote resource or point of transaction . 5
5.2 Generic challenges in the integration of biometrics in mobile devices. 6
5.2.1 Computational power . 6
5.2.2 Data protection and privacy . 6
5.2.3 Biometric sample capture . 8
5.2.4 Sample authentication process . 9
5.2.5 Usability .10
5.2.6 Solution testing .12
5.2.7 Challenges common to other scenarios and platforms .12
6 Biometrics services within the OS of the mobile device .13
7 Biometric services at the application level in a mobile device .15
8 Biometric application development [using the biometric engine(s) provided] .16
9 Functional and operational guidance .20
9.1 General guidance .20
9.1.1 Guidance on functional architecture .20
9.1.2 Guidance on environmental conditions and constraints .20
9.2 Guidance for enrolment .20
9.2.1 General guidance for enrolment .20
9.2.2 Supervised enrolment .21
9.2.3 Unsupervised enrolment .21
9.3 Guidance for authentication .22
9.3.1 Remote unsupervised authentication .22
9.3.2 Local unsupervised authentication .23
10 Use of multi-factor authentication .23
10.1 Fusion and scores for multi-biometrics .23
10.2 Combining biometric and non-biometric authentication techniques for greater
security and/or usability .24
11 Biometric modality specific guidance .24
Bibliography .27
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ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical
activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work. In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee,
ISO/IEC JTC 1.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for
the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject
of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the
Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment,
as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
The committee responsible for this document is ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, SC 37, Biometrics.
iv © ISO/IEC 2016 – All rights reserved
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ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
Introduction
The widespread use and capability of mobile technology has created a demand for people to be able to
conduct their personal and business lives on the move in a way that previously would have been limited
to the home and office environments. To service this demand, mobile communications, applications and
transactions need to be protected to safeguard the privacy of the user and to ensure the integrity of the
transaction. This is essential for creating a trusted mobile platform environment in which individuals,
businesses, non-profit organizations and governments can transact. User authentication, being sure
that you are dealing with the right person, is a vital part of this and one that poses particular difficulty
when the user is communicating from an unknown remote location. The potential for impersonation
and fraud is high.
User authentication is commonly achieved through the use of a username and password. This approach
uses only one category of credentials, the password, and is referred to as Single Factor Authentication
(SFA). Use of a biometric instead of a password is another example of SFA. For mobile applications that
require high levels of security, policy may require the use of more than one credential. Use of more than
one credential is referred to as Multi Factor Authentication (MFA). Multi-factor authentication can be
accomplished with one or more of the following:
a) something you know (e.g. password);
b) something you have (e.g. identity card);
c) something you are (e.g. face, fingerprints, iris).
Authentication, in providing assurance that a person is who they say they are, can be improved through
the use of biometric recognition. Other forms of identification, such as tokens or passwords, are not
closely bound to an individual in the same manner as a biometrics is, and provide greater opportunity
for substitution or theft. Password and token authentication authenticates the password or the token
not the person and the authentication assurance is limited by the level of trust that exists that the
password or token is being presented by the legitimate user and has not been acquired by an impostor.
The range of mobile devices and communication channels involved in mobile transactions is large
and variable. Smart phones, tablets, laptops and other smart devices based on embedded systems are
common examples of mobile devices and the Internet and Global System for Mobile communications
(GSM) are examples of communication channels. Mobile devices are often owned by their users but not
always; they could be company owned and supplied to employees for their own use.
A number of mobile device manufacturers produce units containing sensors. Conceivably, these sensors
could be used to collect biometrics [i.e. camera for face, touch screen for finger or palm, microphone
for voice, Global Positioning System (GPS) and accelerometers for gait]. Applications built for mobile
platforms may use these sensors to capture biometrics for purposes such as authentication.
This Technical Report addresses the use of biometrics in scenarios where a person is mobile and wants
to connect to a specific service irrespective of the device type and communication channel.
There are three key issues to consider when biometrics are used in such scenarios.
— The biometric capture environment – application developers will require a means of taking into
account the uncontrolled nature of the capture environment. The uncontrolled capture environment
will most likely mean that it is not possible for capture conditions to conform to the ‘best practice’
constraints for biometric capture (e.g. pose, background, etc.) set out in current biometric standards;
and also require recognition algorithms and/or thresholds to be modified to take account in the case
of reduced quality of biometric capture if the application can be compliant with reduced security.
— Biometric data privacy and security implications – the distribution of biometric data to commercial
devices with security weaknesses and storage of biometric data in third-party cloud implementations.
In this Technical Report, these security and privacy issues are addressed by referencing other
standards where available noting that work is ongoing in establishing benchmarks and ‘best
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ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
practice’ to safeguard information including personal information. Definition of standards for
security in mobile devices is not in the scope of this Technical Report.
— Biometric authentication - relative consistency of approach to biometric authentication across
all application developers to ensure ‘best practice’ and consistent ‘look and feel’ for users.” (More
information may be found in NISTIR 8003).
Current biometric standards and associated security standards for biometrics do not yet adequately
address the issues raised with the use of biometric capture on commercial computing devices, with
distribution of biometric data via ‘the cloud’. Work is still required in establishing benchmarks and
‘best practice’.
This Technical Report is aimed at all parties with an interest in offering biometric functions or a
biometric framework for use on mobile platforms including developers of third-party open source
software libraries. It is also intended to provide a reference document for standards developers seeking
to develop standards for the use of biometrics in mobile environments.
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TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
Information technology — Biometrics used with mobile
devices
1 Scope
This Technical Report provides guidance for developing a consistent and secure method of biometric
(either alone or supported by non-biometric) personalization and authentication in a mobile
environment for systems procured on the open market.
Guidance is provided for
— 1:1 verification or 1:few positive identification;
— biometric sample capture in the mobile environment where conditions are not well controlled and
not covered in ISO/IEC Biometric interchange format standards and the ISO/IEC Biometric sample
quality Technical Reports;
NOTE 1 Further information regarding architectures may be found in NIST/SP 500-288.
— the best use of multiple biometric and non-biometric (PINs, passwords, personal data) personalization
and authentication methods (i.e. multifactor).
NOTE 2 More information may be found in ISO/IEC 30108-1.
This Technical Report defines a framework to address methods and approaches for remote and
unsupervised enrolment, together with secure storage and transmission of biometric and supporting
biographic data, covering a variety of both online connected and offline modes.
This Technical Report identifies the functional elements and components of a generic mobile biometric
system and the distinct characteristics of each component. It provides guidance related to a generic
mobile architecture with reference to supporting standards.
The context recognizes a) the user as being mobile and b) operation across a variety of platforms,
particularly mobile devices but also including tablet, laptop and other personal computing devices.
The key to defining this context is whether the user’s environment is physically controlled by the
organization to which the user seeks access.
2 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are
indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated
references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
1)
ISO/IEC 2382-37 , Information technology — Vocabulary — Part 37: Biometrics
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 2382-37 and the
following apply.
1) For a freely available copy of ISO/IEC 2382-37:2012, see: http://standards.iso.org/ittf/
PubliclyAvailableStandards/index.html.
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ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
3.1
mobile device
small, compact, handheld, lightweight computing device, typically having a display screen with digitizer
input and/or a miniature keyboard
Note 1 to entry: Examples include laptops, tablet PCs, wearable ICT devices, smartphones, USB gadgets.
3.2
personalization
ability to configure for a device to react in particular way for a specific individual
4 Abbreviated terms
BI Biometric interface
GPS Global Positioning System
GUI Graphical user interface
LAC Logical access control
NFC Near field communication
OS Operating system
OTG On-the-go – the USB connector of a smartphone
SE Secure element
TEE Trusted execution environment
USB Universal Serial Bus
5 The use of biometrics in mobile devices
5.1 Taxonomy of usage of biometrics in mobile devices
5.1.1 General
The context in which mobile devices can be used may be categorized, at a high-level, into four generic
Use Cases. In all cases, usability and human factors should be considered and integrated into the
development process of an application with use of biometric capability.
5.1.2 Generic considerations for all use cases
It is important to take account of the level of assurance required by providers and users of services in a
mobile environment. These will depend on the nature of the service and environmental factors such as
location, degree of remote control (if any), time, cryptographic and other security protection processes.
Because the analysis of the security and assurance level is out of the scope of this Technical Report, the
following clauses simply refer to high, medium and low levels of assurance. More detailed information
on this aspect can be found in ISO/IEC 29115.
When implementing biometric services in mobile devices, it is important to note that irrespective of the
biometric which is used or the application which uses it, the following functions should be considered:
a) capture of a biometric sample;
b) storage of a biometric reference (in some cases, this may be remote from the mobile device);
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ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
c) processing of biometric samples;
d) comparison of a biometric sample with a biometric reference (which may be remote from the
device).
These general functionalities require some basic functions including:
a) capturing one or more biometric sample(s) from a sequence of samples (i.e. a facial image from a
live view of a face);
b) establishing the best sample(s) based on some quality metric;
c) providing feedback to donor/subject for presentation of biometric (e.g. oval shape to position face);
d) providing a quality metric for sample capture;
e) providing feedback for failure to capture/failure to enrol;
f) providing information on what sensors are available on device (e.g. camera, multi-touch screen,
finger scanner, GPS, accelerometer, etc.) together with any relevant technical details (e.g. touch
screen resolution, number of multi-touches, camera resolution, etc.);
g) providing information on what biometric modalities have been captured as references;
h) comparison algorithms for each modality 1:1 and/or 1:few;
i) pass comparison score or pass fail result.
The application itself could handle some further biometric functions and fundamental identity
management functions, such as:
a) ability to capture a new identity, delete or update an identity;
b) ability to handle exceptions;
c) processing of biometric samples.
These functions could form part of the OS framework. Consideration needs to be given to what elements
may be resident on the device and what data may be processed remotely [e.g. via a web service, REST
(Representable State Transfer), HTTP GET (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Group Encrypted Transfer),
XML-RPC (Extensible Markup Language - Remote Procedure Call), etc.]. Different approaches may be
taken in different circumstances, even for the same application. The device may be connected or not
connected. At the platform level the user should see consistency in their interface.
Biometric comparison may be performed in the device or passed off to a remote server, depending on
the use case and level of trust required.
A key aspect of mobile applications is the uncontrolled nature of the environment. The environment
is one which is not controlled by the service the person is trying to access, so level of trust will be an
important factor. Also, the environment could be different for each access occasion and vary over time.
In addition, it may be beneficial to use remote processing at a variety of system component interfaces.
This would not only improve interoperability but allow biometric capabilities into systems that might
not otherwise have them available. For example, an acquisition service such as WS-Biometric Devices
(Web Services-Biometric Devices) would allow a mobile device without a built-in fingerprint scanner
to acquire fingerprints from such an enabled scanner. A standard web service such as BIAS (Biometric
Identity Assurance Service) may do the same for enrolment or recognition; for example, in cases where
the data or comparison capabilities are not available locally. [Further information may be found in
NIST/SP 500-288].
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ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
In any of the cases, certain general considerations should be addressed.
a) A decision should be taken on how the enrolment is performed, either in a supervised manner
(external validation of the sample/s provided by some means) or in an unsupervised way (the user
self-assesses the enrolment, with or without some quality check features on standards).
In the case of unsupervised enrolment, it is recommended that the enrolment system automatically
checks the quality of the samples provided (e.g. by following the relevant part of ISO/IEC 29794)
and, when several samples are provided, the completeness of the union of all samples.
b) In order to protect the personal data of the device user it is recommended that both, the generation,
and storage of the biometric probes and references, are protected so that there is no external access
to these (e.g. from a third party application).
c) Although typically the device is to be operated by a single user, the possibility of more than one
person using the device should be analysed with respect to the impacts of this on the device and
assurance levels.
d) The computational power of a mobile device is expected to be less than that of a desktop computer
or server. Therefore, analysis of the mobile device’s biometric processing performance, given
the resources available to the device, is recommended. Analysis should also be conducted on the
performance of any sensor or biometric capture component built into the mobile unit, where the
features of a built in capture component are comparably less than the feature set of an equivalent,
specialist, stand-alone capture device.
e) Biometric services may be provided by the OS or by a third party application. In either case, the
biometric services should run within a ‘sandbox’ to limit the possibility of the biometric services
running malicious code or accessing configuration data which affects the service’s behaviour (e.g.
decision thresholds).
5.1.3 Access to the device
This is a service offered locally at the device without the need of using on-line services. Typically, the
decision is performed at the device itself, and a positive outcome will unlock the device and allow the
user to access the rest of the services and applications installed in the device or offered remotely.
EXAMPLE Examples include using a personal biometric instead of a password, PIN or graphical pattern to
unlock the device when it is turned on, or after a period of inactivity.
This service provides a minimum level of assurance to the device and the data and applications
included. Applications and particular data access may require further authentications, which will raise
the level of assurance. As the user of the device may want to access low assurance services (e.g. reading
the news on a public newspaper), the mechanism of unlocking the devices should address convenience
more than security, and, therefore, the level of assurance for this kind of use should be considered as
low. The organization providing the device may consider raising such assurance level as to gain a more
rigid control on the use of the device.
For user convenience in low security scenarios, after a fixed number of failed attempts, the device could
offer an alternative modality or method (e.g. a password, PIN or graphical pattern could be offered as
an alternative unlocking means).
5.1.4 Access to the local applications, services and/or data
This is a service offered locally at the device without the need of using on-line services. Typically, the
decision is performed at the device itself, and requested by an application in order to allow continuing
use of the application, or access to certain services, or control of the access to particular protected data.
This should only be executed with the device unlocked and only by the application accessible at the
main screen, to avoid unauthorized access by third-party applications or services.
EXAMPLE Examples include accessing a protected folder in the internal memory of the device, through a
particular file explorer application.
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ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
The level of assurance required in this case depends on the application trying to authenticate the user,
and the step to be accessed. Therefore, the level of assurance may change from one application to
another. This means that thresholds (e.g. quality or comparison thresholds) may have different values
depending on the assurance level demanded. In order to avoid misuse by third-party applications,
consideration should be given to restricting the values of the thresholds so that they do not block the
system nor pass everybody. The absolute miss threshold should never overlap the absolute hit threshold.
NOTE It is possible that the biometric service manufacturer may not be willing to provide different
assurance levels, having fixed thresholds for its operation.
5.1.5 Access to the communications channel
This is an on-line mode of operation analogous to the situation of the previous case, but where the
service or data to be accessed is located in a remote system. In this case the device is attempting to
go on-line and open a communications channel to authenticate itself digitally to, and register on, that
channel before being granted access. Instead, or in addition, biometric recognition may be used to
authenticate the device user to the communications channel.
EXAMPLE Examples include verifying that a particular user is entitled to use a particular communications
channel by the operator/owner of that channel, amongst other things for automatically implementing billing,
credit and access policy.
Possib
...
TECHNICAL ISO/IEC TR
REPORT 30125
First edition
Information technology — Biometrics
— Biometrics used with mobile devices
Technologies de l’information — Biométrie — Biométrie utilisée avec
des appareils mobiles
PROOF/ÉPREUVE
Reference number
ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
©
ISO/IEC 2016
---------------------- Page: 1 ----------------------
ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
COPYRIGHT PROTECTED DOCUMENT
© ISO/IEC 2016, Published in Switzerland
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on the internet or an intranet, without prior
written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of
the requester.
ISO copyright office
Ch. de Blandonnet 8 • CP 401
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva, Switzerland
Tel. +41 22 749 01 11
Fax +41 22 749 09 47
copyright@iso.org
www.iso.org
ii © ISO/IEC 2016 – All rights reserved
---------------------- Page: 2 ----------------------
ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Abbreviated terms . 2
5 The use of biometrics in mobile devices . 2
5.1 Taxonomy of usage of biometrics in mobile devices . 2
5.1.1 General. 2
5.1.2 Generic considerations for all use cases . 2
5.1.3 Access to the device . . 4
5.1.4 Access to the local applications, services and/or data . . 4
5.1.5 Access to the communications channel . 5
5.1.6 Verification/authentication of, or to, a remote resource or point of transaction . 5
5.2 Generic challenges in the integration of biometrics in mobile devices. 6
5.2.1 Computational power . 6
5.2.2 Data protection and privacy . 6
5.2.3 Biometric sample capture . 8
5.2.4 Sample authentication process . 9
5.2.5 Usability .10
5.2.6 Solution testing .12
5.2.7 Challenges common to other scenarios and platforms .12
6 Biometrics services within the OS of the mobile device .13
7 Biometric services at the application level in a mobile device .15
8 Biometric application development [using the biometric engine(s) provided] .16
9 Functional and operational guidance .20
9.1 General guidance .20
9.1.1 Guidance on functional architecture .20
9.1.2 Guidance on environmental conditions and constraints .20
9.2 Guidance for enrolment .20
9.2.1 General guidance for enrolment .20
9.2.2 Supervised enrolment .21
9.2.3 Unsupervised enrolment .21
9.3 Guidance for authentication .22
9.3.1 Remote unsupervised authentication .22
9.3.2 Local unsupervised authentication .23
10 Use of multi-factor authentication .23
10.1 Fusion and scores for multi-biometrics .23
10.2 Combining biometric and non-biometric authentication techniques for greater
security and/or usability .24
11 Biometric modality specific guidance .24
Bibliography .27
© ISO/IEC 2016 – All rights reserved PROOF/ÉPREUVE iii
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ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical
activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work. In the field of information technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee,
ISO/IEC JTC 1.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for
the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject
of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the
Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment,
as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.
The committee responsible for this document is ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology, SC 37, Biometrics.
iv PROOF/ÉPREUVE © ISO/IEC 2016 – All rights reserved
---------------------- Page: 4 ----------------------
ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
Introduction
The widespread use and capability of mobile technology has created a demand for people to be able to
conduct their personal and business lives on the move in a way that previously would have been limited
to the home and office environments. To service this demand, mobile communications, applications and
transactions need to be protected to safeguard the privacy of the user and to ensure the integrity of the
transaction. This is essential for creating a trusted mobile platform environment in which individuals,
businesses, non-profit organizations and governments can transact. User authentication, being sure
that you are dealing with the right person, is a vital part of this and one that poses particular difficulty
when the user is communicating from an unknown remote location. The potential for impersonation
and fraud is high.
User authentication is commonly achieved through the use of a username and password. This approach
uses only one category of credentials, the password, and is referred to as Single Factor Authentication
(SFA). Use of a biometric instead of a password is another example of SFA. For mobile applications that
require high levels of security, policy may require the use of more than one credential. Use of more than
one credential is referred to as Multi Factor Authentication (MFA). Multi-factor authentication can be
accomplished with one or more of the following:
a) something you know (e.g. password);
b) something you have (e.g. identity card);
c) something you are (e.g. face, fingerprints, iris).
Authentication, in providing assurance that a person is who they say they are, can be improved through
the use of biometric recognition. Other forms of identification, such as tokens or passwords, are not
closely bound to an individual in the same manner as a biometrics is, and provide greater opportunity
for substitution or theft. Password and token authentication authenticates the password or the token
not the person and the authentication assurance is limited by the level of trust that exists that the
password or token is being presented by the legitimate user and has not been acquired by an impostor.
The range of mobile devices and communication channels involved in mobile transactions is large
and variable. Smart phones, tablets, laptops and other smart devices based on embedded systems are
common examples of mobile devices and the Internet and Global System for Mobile communications
(GSM) are examples of communication channels. Mobile devices are often owned by their users but not
always; they could be company owned and supplied to employees for their own use.
A number of mobile device manufacturers produce units containing sensors. Conceivably, these sensors
could be used to collect biometrics [i.e. camera for face, touch screen for finger or palm, microphone
for voice, Global Positioning System (GPS) and accelerometers for gait]. Applications built for mobile
platforms may use these sensors to capture biometrics for purposes such as authentication.
This Technical Report addresses the use of biometrics in scenarios where a person is mobile and wants
to connect to a specific service irrespective of the device type and communication channel.
There are three key issues to consider when biometrics are used in such scenarios.
— The biometric capture environment – application developers will require a means of taking into
account the uncontrolled nature of the capture environment. The uncontrolled capture environment
will most likely mean that it is not possible for capture conditions to conform to the ‘best practice’
constraints for biometric capture (e.g. pose, background, etc.) set out in current biometric standards;
and also require recognition algorithms and/or thresholds to be modified to take account in the case
of reduced quality of biometric capture if the application can be compliant with reduced security.
— Biometric data privacy and security implications – the distribution of biometric data to commercial
devices with security weaknesses and storage of biometric data in third-party cloud implementations.
In this Technical Report, these security and privacy issues are addressed by referencing other
standards where available noting that work is ongoing in establishing benchmarks and ‘best
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practice’ to safeguard information including personal information. Definition of standards for
security in mobile devices is not in the scope of this Technical Report.
— Biometric authentication - relative consistency of approach to biometric authentication across
all application developers to ensure ‘best practice’ and consistent ‘look and feel’ for users.” (More
information may be found in NISTIR 8003).
Current biometric standards and associated security standards for biometrics do not yet adequately
address the issues raised with the use of biometric capture on commercial computing devices, with
distribution of biometric data via ‘the cloud’. Work is still required in establishing benchmarks and
‘best practice’.
This Technical Report is aimed at all parties with an interest in offering biometric functions or a
biometric framework for use on mobile platforms including developers of third-party open source
software libraries. It is also intended to provide a reference document for standards developers seeking
to develop standards for the use of biometrics in mobile environments.
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TECHNICAL REPORT ISO/IEC TR 30125:2016(E)
Information technology — Biometrics — Biometrics used
with mobile devices
1 Scope
This Technical Report provides guidance for developing a consistent and secure method of biometric
(either alone or supported by non-biometric) personalization and authentication in a mobile
environment for systems procured on the open market.
Guidance is provided for
— 1:1 verification or 1:few positive identification;
— biometric sample capture in the mobile environment where conditions are not well controlled and
not covered in ISO/IEC Biometric interchange format standards and the ISO/IEC Biometric sample
quality Technical Reports;
NOTE 1 Further information regarding architectures may be found in NIST/SP 500-288.
— the best use of multiple biometric and non-biometric (PINs, passwords, personal data) personalization
and authentication methods (i.e. multifactor).
NOTE 2 More information may be found in ISO/IEC 30108-1.
This Technical Report defines a framework to address methods and approaches for remote and
unsupervised enrolment, together with secure storage and transmission of biometric and supporting
biographic data, covering a variety of both online connected and offline modes.
This Technical Report identifies the functional elements and components of a generic mobile biometric
system and the distinct characteristics of each component. It provides guidance related to a generic
mobile architecture with reference to supporting standards.
The context recognizes a) the user as being mobile and b) operation across a variety of platforms,
particularly mobile devices but also including tablet, laptop and other personal computing devices.
The key to defining this context is whether the user’s environment is physically controlled by the
organization to which the user seeks access.
2 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are
indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated
references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
1)
ISO/IEC 2382-37, Information technology — Vocabulary — Part 37: Biometrics
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO/IEC 2382-37 and the
following apply.
1) For a freely available copy of ISO/IEC 2382-37:2012, see: http://standards.iso.org/ittf/
PubliclyAvailableStandards/index.html.
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3.1
mobile devices
small, compact, handheld, lightweight computing device, typically having a display screen with digitizer
input and/or a miniature keyboard
Note 1 to entry: Examples include laptops, tablet PCs, wearable ICT devices, smartphones, USB gadgets.
3.2
personalization
ability to configure for a device to react in particular way for a specific individual
4 Abbreviated terms
BI Biometric interface
GPS Global Positioning System
GUI Graphical user interface
LAC Logical access control
NFC Near field communication
OS Operating system
OTG On-the-go – the USB connector of a smartphone
SE Secure element
TEE Trusted execution environment
USB Universal Serial Bus
5 The use of biometrics in mobile devices
5.1 Taxonomy of usage of biometrics in mobile devices
5.1.1 General
The context in which mobile devices can be used may be categorized, at a high-level, into four generic
Use Cases. In all cases, usability and human factors should be considered and integrated into the
development process of an application with use of biometric capability.
5.1.2 Generic considerations for all use cases
It is important to take account of the level of assurance required by providers and users of services in a
mobile environment. These will depend on the nature of the service and environmental factors such as
location, degree of remote control (if any), time, cryptographic and other security protection processes.
Because the analysis of the security and assurance level is out of the scope of this Technical Report, the
following clauses simply refer to high, medium and low levels of assurance. More detailed information
on this aspect can be found in ISO/IEC 29115.
When implementing biometric services in mobile devices, it is important to note that irrespective of the
biometric which is used or the application which uses it, the following functions should be considered:
a) capture of a biometric sample;
b) storage of a biometric reference (in some cases, this may be remote from the mobile device);
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c) processing of biometric samples;
d) comparison of a biometric sample with a biometric reference (which may be remote from the
device).
These general functionalities require some basic functions including:
a) capturing one or more biometric sample(s) from a sequence of samples (i.e. a facial image from a
live view of a face);
b) establishing the best sample(s) based on some quality metric;
c) providing feedback to donor/subject for presentation of biometric (e.g. oval shape to position face);
d) providing a quality metric for sample capture;
e) providing feedback for failure to capture/failure to enrol;
f) providing information on what sensors are available on device (e.g. camera, multi-touch screen,
finger scanner, GPS, accelerometer, etc.) together with any relevant technical details (e.g. touch
screen resolution, number of multi-touches, camera resolution, etc.);
g) providing information on what biometric modalities have been captured as references;
h) comparison algorithms for each modality 1:1 and/or 1:few;
i) pass comparison score or pass fail result.
The application itself could handle some further biometric functions and fundamental identity
management functions, such as:
a) ability to capture a new identity, delete or update an identity;
b) ability to handle exceptions;
c) processing of biometric samples.
These functions could form part of the OS framework. Consideration needs to be given to what elements
may be resident on the device and what data may be processed remotely [e.g. via a web service, REST
(Representable State Transfer), HTTP GET (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Group Encrypted Transfer),
XML-RPC (Extensible Markup Language - Remote Procedure Call), etc.]. Different approaches may be
taken in different circumstances, even for the same application. The device may be connected or not
connected. At the platform level the user should see consistency in their interface.
Biometric comparison may be performed in the device or passed off to a remote server, depending on
the use case and level of trust required.
A key aspect of mobile applications is the uncontrolled nature of the environment. The environment
is one which is not controlled by the service the person is trying to access, so level of trust will be an
important factor. Also, the environment could be different for each access occasion and vary over time.
In addition, it may be beneficial to use remote processing at a variety of system component interfaces.
This would not only improve interoperability but allow biometric capabilities into systems that might
not otherwise have them available. For example, an acquisition service such as WS-Biometric Devices
(Web Services-Biometric Devices) would allow a mobile device without a built-in fingerprint scanner
to acquire fingerprints from such an enabled scanner. A standard web service such as BIAS (Biometric
Identity Assurance Service) may do the same for enrolment or recognition; for example, in cases where
the data or comparison capabilities are not available locally. [Further information may be found in
NIST/SP 500-288].
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In any of the cases, certain general considerations should be addressed.
a) A decision should be taken on how the enrolment is performed, either in a supervised manner
(external validation of the sample/s provided by some means) or in an unsupervised way (the user
self-assesses the enrolment, with or without some quality check features on standards).
In the case of unsupervised enrolment, it is recommended that the enrolment system automatically
checks the quality of the samples provided (e.g. by following the relevant part of ISO/IEC 29794)
and, when several samples are provided, the completeness of the union of all samples.
b) In order to protect the personal data of the device user it is recommended that both, the generation,
and storage of the biometric probes and references, are protected so that there is no external access
to these (e.g. from a third party application).
c) Although typically the device is to be operated by a single user, the possibility of more than one
person using the device should be analysed with respect to the impacts of this on the device and
assurance levels.
d) The computational power of a mobile device is expected to be less than that of a desktop computer
or server. Therefore, analysis of the mobile device’s biometric processing performance, given
the resources available to the device, is recommended. Analysis should also be conducted on the
performance of any sensor or biometric capture component built into the mobile unit, where the
features of a built in capture component are comparably less than the feature set of an equivalent,
specialist, stand-alone capture device.
e) Biometric services may be provided by the OS or by a third party application. In either case, the
biometric services should run within a ‘sandbox’ to limit the possibility of the biometric services
running malicious code or accessing configuration data which affects the service’s behaviour (e.g.
decision thresholds).
5.1.3 Access to the device
This is a service offered locally at the device without the need of using on-line services. Typically, the
decision is performed at the device itself, and a positive outcome will unlock the device and allow the
user to access the rest of the services and applications installed in the device or offered remotely.
EXAMPLE Examples include using a personal biometric instead of a password, PIN or graphical pattern to
unlock the device when it is turned on, or after a period of inactivity.
This service provides a minimum level of assurance to the device and the data and applications
included. Applications and particular data access may require further authentications, which will raise
the level of assurance. As the user of the device may want to access low assurance services (e.g. reading
the news on a public newspaper), the mechanism of unlocking the devices should address convenience
more than security, and, therefore, the level of assurance for this kind of use should be considered as
low. The organization providing the device may consider raising such assurance level as to gain a more
rigid control on the use of the device.
For user convenience in low security scenarios, after a fixed number of failed attempts, the device could
offer an alternative modality or method (e.g. a password, PIN or graphical pattern could be offered as
an alternative unlocking means).
5.1.4 Access to the local applications, services and/or data
This is a service offered locally at the device without the need of using on-line services. Typically, the
decision is performed at the device itself, and requested by an application in order to allow continuing
use of the application, or access to certain services, or control of the access to particular protected data.
This should only be executed with the device unlocked and only by the application accessible at the
main screen, to avoid unauthorized access by third-party applications or services.
EXAMPLE Examples include accessing a protected folder in the internal memory of the device, through a
particular file explorer application.
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The level of assurance required in this case depends on the application trying to authenticate the user,
and the step to be accessed. Therefore, the level of assurance may change from one application to
another. This means that thresholds (e.g. quality or comparison thresholds) may have different values
depending on the assurance level demanded. In order to avoid misuse by third-party applications,
consideration should be given to restricting the values of the thresholds so that they do not block the
system nor pass everybody. The absolute miss threshold should never overlap the absolute hit threshold.
NOTE It is possible that the biometric service manufacturer may not be willing to provide different
assurance levels, having fixed thresholds for its operation.
5.1.5 Access to the communications channel
This is an on-line mode of operation analogous to the situation of the previous case, but where the
service or data to be accessed is located in a remote system. In this case the device is attempting to
go on-line and open a communications channel to authenticate itself digitally to, and register on, that
channel before being granted access. Instead, or in addition, biometric recognition may be used to
authenticate the device user to the communications channel.
EXAMPLE Examples include verifying that a particular user is entitled to use a particular communicatio
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