DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

Mitigating presentation attacks in remote identity proofing (MIMER): Pakistan in Focus

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Description

The shift towards digital channels for financial transactions due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in fraudulent financial transactions in low-middle-income countries like Pakistan due to weak remote identity proofing (RIDP) processes. The existing methods of verifying a person's identity through electronic means, such as facial recognition, can be easily deceived by advancements in artificial intelligence, such as deep fakes. These deep fakes are much more successful in bypassing the verification process than traditional methods. As a result, there is a lack of trust among users, particularly in countries like Pakistan, where cash is still widely used, in adopting mobile technologies for accessing banking services. This hinders the government's efforts to increase financial and digital inclusion for millions of underbanked individuals. The goal of the MIMER project is to develop a robust authentication method that can protect remote identity verification systems from emerging identity spoofing attacks. The objective is to create a mechanism that is specifically tailored to the conditions in Pakistan by creating detection models that are adapted to local language and other specific characteristics. The project will also focus on developing a framework for detecting audio and visual forgeries, making it resistant to antiforensics and multi-spoofing attacks, and well-suited for real-world scenarios. The project is aligned with various sustainable development goals and addresses the needs of the partner country, particularly by developing a secure and reliable remote identity verification system. This will lead to the creation of robust digital and financial services and decrease the risk of identity theft crimes. The research will be carried out through a seamless collaboration between The University of Glasgow, the University of Engineering and Technology Taxila, Pakistan, and an industrial partner, stech.ai. The focus of the project is to establish sustainable partnerships, network with policymakers within the UK and Pakistan, and co-create knowledge to address the challenges related to developing a secure and reliable remote identity verification system while working towards a common strategic theme of "building a secure and resilient world."

Objectives

The primary objective of this project is to develop advanced techniques for identifying and preventing identity spoofing in remote identity verification systems, with the goal of reducing instances of fraud and digital identity theft. The project aims to build a strong academic partnership between the UK and Pakistan and investigate ways to increase trust in the digital identity system, ultimately leading to a more secure and sustainable digital economy. In order to achieve this goal, a list of progressive objectives is set as follows: 1- Evaluate the feasibility of implementing advanced biometric authentication methods within the digital identity ecosystem of Pakistan, identifying potential obstacles and opportunities. 2- To create a bi-modal anti-spoofing corpus in the Urdu language for remote identity proofing, tailored to meet the specific needs and challenges of Pakistan's digital ecosystem. 3- To develop reliable and robust audio-video presentation attack detection models that can handle anti-forensics and multispoofing attacks and perform effectively in diverse and real-world scenarios 4- Engage with a range of in-country stakeholders to understand the intersection between security, digital literacy, education, and legal regulations within the country. 5- To establish sustainable partnerships, prioritise dissemination and networking with scholars, policymakers and other professionals in related fields via project partners.

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Location

The country, countries or regions that benefit from this Programme.

Pakistan

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