“Whiskers, paws, and tail – here are my documents!” – exclaimed Matroskin in the legendary cartoon. The wise cat turned out to be a prophet in his homeland. Today, face and voice can completely replace a passport for the owner, provided they have correctly set up access to their biometric data
Millionth User
Recently, Russia registered its millionth user of the Unified Biometric System. The honor went to a 28-year-old teacher from MGIMO; the girl’s name is not disclosed, as it is one of the conditions for the safe storage and use of the obtained data. In the Voronezh region, a couple in love, Roman and Darya Babaev, officially entered into marriage without passports, using identification through biometric data.
“More and more Russians are turning to a convenient and modern way of receiving public services. This helps to save energy and time, and we, for our part, continue to improve services and registration methods to meet the needs of users,” says Vladislav Povolotsky, the CEO of the Biometric Technologies Center.
Daria and Roman Babayev registered their marriage using biometric data / Photo: vk.com/vtb
Unified Biometric System
The Unified Biometric System is one of the projects for the development of digital infrastructure in the country. It was created in 2018 for collecting, storing, processing, and using citizens’ biometric personal data when providing remote services.
In December 2021, the Unified Biometric System received the status of a state information system (GIS). A year later, Federal Law No. 572 was issued, regulating the identification and authentication of individuals using biometric personal data. It opened the opportunity for citizens to manage their data in a “single window” mode and receive the maximum number of state and commercial services using biometrics in electronic form.
According to the developers of the law, centralized storage of biometrics allows protecting data from unauthorized use and enables citizens to independently manage access to them. GIS data is used only to provide services for which the citizen has given consent. Therefore, biometrics should be distinguished from video analytics systems used in law enforcement activities for security purposes.
You can register in the Unified Biometric System for free in the mobile application “Public Services. Biometrics” or in person at banks throughout Russia. On public services, you just need to go to the “Biometrics” tab in the profile of your personal account. If the user has never provided biometric data, the text “Biometrics not registered” will be displayed there.
Registration of the millionth user of the state Unified Biometric System / Photo: ebs.ru
What Drives Those Willing to Provide Biometrics?
Today, the list of services available “through biometrics” includes a dozen positions, from obtaining a fan card to remotely opening a bank account. The list is constantly expanding. Currently, the Biometric Technologies Center is working on implementing new services in collaboration with government authorities and leading industry organizations.
In March of this year, the launch of the first online business registration service is planned in Russia. All that will be required is biometric identification.
In the future, citizens will have access to services for boarding trains, checking into hotels, and receiving services at multifunctional centers without a passport. The technology may also replace the use of bank cards and other documents for offline services. For example, passing through a subway turnstile and paying for purchases at a store can become possible with just a glance. And this is not a utopia but a task for the next year or two.
“Registering biometrics and connecting services through it can only be done voluntarily. During registration, a citizen must give consent to data processing. Without it, receiving biometric services is impossible,” explained Dmitry Sobolev, the Director of the Department for Interaction with Government Authorities at the Biometric Technologies Center, the operator of the GIS “Unified Biometric System.” “It is crucial that users understand: providing biometrics is a voluntary action that can be canceled at any time, without any date restrictions.”
The Moscow Metro has already implemented a payment system using biometrics / Photo: transport.mos.ru
Myths and Logical Arguments
Most Russians currently do not have a complete understanding of how to use biometric data and fear that the collected personal information may be used against them.
“Everything unknown always scares. It’s a normal protective reaction of the body to adaptation to the environment. Remember how much noise the TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number) made, which tax authorities assigned to everyone en masse. This number was considered devilry and the machinations of the devil. The same thing happened with bank cards. Today, we cannot imagine life without an electronic wallet, built-in navigator, and geolocation. I think it will be the same with biometrics. Once the service becomes popular, it will get rid of most myths and misunderstandings,” says sociologist Dmitry Baranovsky.
The biggest fear of biometrics remains the common belief that if you don’t refuse the procedure, it will be carried out without your knowledge. Allegedly, voices can be recorded during calls from call centers, and faces can be identified through ATM cameras. What if the information collected in this way falls into the hands of fraudsters?
According to the Central Bank of Russia, bank data is most often provided to fraudsters by the victims themselves—through phishing sites, in telephone conversations, or when using an ATM. Transferring a digital image is much more challenging; it is practically impossible to forge it, at least, this will require a lot of time, special equipment, and skills higher than those of telephone scammers.
The cost of hacking a biometric system is currently economically unprofitable for fraudsters. Moreover, there is no such thing as a database in the traditional sense—personal data is stored separately from the images. The cryptographic protection of biometric data in the GIS recently received a positive conclusion from the FSB of Russia.
But what if a person’s appearance changes during their lifetime, for example, after unsuccessful eyebrow correction or plastic surgery?
Central Bank specialists explained that even the morning after unrestrained revelry or during a cold, the system is capable of recognizing the original. If a person has had plastic surgery, they are entitled to update their biometric data, as provided by law. Biometric data must be updated every five years or more frequently, at the individual’s request.
The list of services available “using biometrics” includes a dozen items – from payment in stores to remote opening of a bank account / Photo: Evgeny Biyatov/RIA Novosti
Tested on Oneself
Currently, the most inhibiting factor for universal biometrics is the unavailability of the service. Everything depends on the availability of bank branches equipped with a microphone and camera for data collection and storage.
A personal experiment proved that in the regional center with a population of over half a million people, four out of five branches of different banks were not ready for the procedure. However, the fifth branch completed everything in five minutes, although they asked to open a bank account, citing that the service is only available to bank customers, although this is not provided by law.
The identification application worked without any issues, intuitively guiding through the process. It was necessary to turn on the video on the smartphone and, looking into the camera, announce a randomly generated digital code on the screen. The system sent this recording for verification of biometric parameters — images and voice — with the samples uploaded to the Unified Biometric System during registration. The entire procedure took a few minutes.
But it must be acknowledged: it is too long to pay for subway passage or make purchases in a store. However, technologies are advancing rapidly, attracting more and more users.
By Maxim Makarov