Hua Yang, Co-Founder & CEO and Lenny Kontsevich, Co-Founder & Chairman With financial organizations embracing digital technologies to stay competitive, the demand for a comprehensive biometric solution to mitigate potential security breaches is at its zenith. Following the success of Touch ID and ApplePay, fingerprint scanning has become popular in mobile banking and payment. However, beyond phones, the usage of biometrics is still very limited. With an aim to equip financial institutions with next-generation biometric technology that can be used across devices, California-based Redrock Biometrics has developed a comprehensive single sign-on solution ‘PalmID’ that scans the user’s palm for authentication. What makes this solution unique is its combination of cross-device capability and security. PalmID works on any device with a camera with a resolution of 0.3 mp or better. For single sign-on, user data can be enrolled once on one device and used across multiple devices for authentication. PalmID’s false acceptance rate (error rate) is only 1 over 20 million, several orders of magnitude better than most fingerprint and face recognition solutions. For speedy market adoption, Redrock engages with system integrators and ID providers to develop biometric log-in screens. Having opened a new dimension in biometric authentication for several industries including AR/VR, banking, e-commerce, and wearables, Redrock has carved a niche in the competitive biometric market. “We have streamlined the security authentication processes of fintechs by offering them a biometrics solution which is compatible with different platforms,” says Hua Yang, Co-Founder and CEO of Redrock.
Yang explains that the large area of a human palm comprises unique skin lines and creases at a wide range, which when exposed to a camera from a distance of six inches or more gets captured in great detail. Redrock's PalmID uses machine vision techniques to convert the palm's RGB video into a template. The solution can work in low light conditions (10 lux) to authenticate a user accurately in less than 100 ms—making it fast, stable, and reliable for authentication during financial transactions.
Being the only company to have developed a palm-based authentication system, we are in the driver’s seat to revolutionize the biometric industry in the upcoming days
Further, for authenticating the user, PalmID leverages matching algorithms to compare the procured template with the ones that are stored either on servers or on local devices. Owing to its advanced utilities, PalmID can be used to replace insecure legacy authentication systems like SMS services and other password protection systems. The company is also perfectly suited to serve the authentication needs for e-commerce and in-game purchases in the AR/ VR industry with its simple yet robust authentication solution.
Lenny Kontsevich, Co-Founder and Chairman of Redrock talks about a major manufacturer of ATM machines, who wanted to replace cards with mobile phones to identify and interact with users. PalmID emerged as the right solution for the manufacturer as users could authenticate just by showing their hands to the cameras embedded in phones. In another instance, a major bank in the U.S. that required biometric solutions to sign-in its employees chose ‘Windows Hello’ initially. But after realizing that their devices lack infrared sensors required by ‘Windows Hello’, the bank took a more agile and cost-effective approach by adopting Redrock’s PalmID.
Since its launch in 2017, Redrock started working with Wells Fargo and was accepted as a part of the latter's Accelerator program. Alongside collaborating with software companies like Fujitsu and international ID providers, Redrock has also engaged with an electronic device provider Epson to improve its sales and applications. Further, PalmID has found an audience in the automotive industry around the premise of avoiding keys to operate vehicles with foolproof security.
"Although palm-based authentication is not yet popular in the market, it has tremendous potential to improve authentication systems across industries," says Yang. "Being the only company to have developed a palm-based authentication system, we are in the driver’s seat to revolutionize the biometric industry in the upcoming days."
