Warnings issued by cybersecurity authorities regarding the use of counterfeit passport pictures
German Government Cracks Down on Deepfake Passport Fraud
In a bid to combat the growing threat of deepfake technology, the German government has taken significant steps to enhance security measures in the passport application process. The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has issued a warning about the potential manipulation of passport photos using "morphing" software, a digital image processing technique that merges the biometric features of two or more images to create a new facial image.
Organized criminals have been identified as a threat that could abuse morphing, offering morphing services even for legal passports via the dark net. If successful, these criminals could facilitate identity fraud, allowing multiple individuals to use the same valid passport, but with a morphed photo.
To address this danger, the federal government has implemented measures to detect and prevent face morphing fraud in official systems. The new law, which was enacted at the end of last year, requires passport photos to be taken in the office or sent digitally from photo studios directly to the registration offices. This change is expected to reduce the risk of fraudulent passport applications and improve the reliability of passport and ID documents.
The new law is part of the efforts to combat organized criminals who could abuse morphing and offer morphing services even for legal passports via the dark net. The Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) also warns of forged passports using morphed passport photos.
The German government is aligning with global efforts such as those by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), adopting advanced morph detection technologies aimed at recognizing morphed images in passport application and border control processes. Deployment of biometrics-based verification systems that leverage live facial recognition (LFR) technology capable of detecting inconsistencies indicative of morphing fraud is also part of these efforts. LFR systems are noted for their high accuracy (~99.99%), helping authorities reliably distinguish genuine individuals from those using manipulated images.
BSI President Arne Schönbohm has stated that the manipulation poses a great potential danger for fraud, while Günter Krings, Parliamentary State Secretary in the BMI, has stated that morphing fundamentally threatens the reliability of passport and ID documents. The BMI takes the threat of morphing very seriously.
These efforts are designed to counteract the threat posed by morphing software by preventing these fraudulent images from entering government databases and operational workflows, reinforcing border security and identity verification protocols in Germany. The federal government is taking steps to address the potential danger posed by morphing for passport and ID documents, ensuring the integrity and security of these vital documents.
[1] NIST Guidelines for Face Morphing Detection [2] Live Facial Recognition: Advances and Challenges
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