Biometrics Security & Privacy

News | Jobs | Team | Grants

Biometrics refers to the automatic recognition of individuals based on their physiological and/or behavioral characteristics.

The Biometrics Security and Privacy (BSP) group at Idiap focuses on three main areas of research:

Biometric recognition: We investigate and develop new biometrics based recognition algorithms, notably for face, voice, and vein biometric modalities.
Presentation attack detection: We look for new and better ways of detecting presentation attacks on face, voice, and vein biometric recognition systems.
Biometric template protection: We research effective methods of preserving both the security of biometric recognition systems and the privacy of their users by protecting the biometric models ("templates") that are employed by the system for recognition purposes.

The BSP group prioritizes reproducibility in research. This is important for ensuring that our work can be both verified and built upon by the wider research community. To enable reproducibility, we mainly make use of our Python-based signal-processing and machine-learning toolbox, Bob, which we make freely available for academic purposes. The group also develops and maintains the BEAT platform -- a MLaaS platform compliant with Swiss and European data-security norms.

The group participates in several large-scale biometrics projects at Swiss (SNSF), European (H2020) or world-wide levels but also conducts projects directly with companies.

The BSP group provides also expertise to the Swiss Center for Biometrics Research and Testing, which, among other things, carries out tests and evaluations on commercial products related to biometrics.

Group News

Sébastien Marcel receives IEEE fellowship elevation

research — Feb 13, 2025

Sébastien Marcel, senior scientist at Idiap, has been elevated to IEEE Fellow, effective January 1, 2025. The IEEE fellowship testifies “the advancement or application of engineering, science and technology, bringing the realization of significant value to society”[1].

Idiap distinguishes two students for their outstanding work

institute — Dec 20, 2023

Each year the institute gives two awards to distinguish two of its students. In 2023, the Best Paper Award went to Tobias Löw, and the Student Award to Hatef Otroshi Shahreza. Congratulations!

World leaders in biometrics met at Idiap

tech — Apr 26, 2023

Idiap hosted a Biometrics Week. This one of a kind event gathered several hundreds of people from various backgrounds ranging from academia to industry. Organizers included the European Association for Biometrics and the US based Center for Identification Technology Research.

Eight Years of Face Recognition Research: Reproducibility, Achievements and Open Issues

research — last modified Aug 18, 2022

This paper is a joint work between Tiago de Freitas Pereira from the Biometrics Security & Privacy group at Idiap Research Institute and Manuel Günther and his team at University of Zurich.

Three journal papers published in the same issue of IEEE Transactions on Biometrics, Behavior, and Identity Science

research — last modified Apr 05, 2022

Idiap's Biometrics Security & Privacy group asserts its expertise and leadership in the specialized press with three papers published in the same issue of IEEE Transactions on Biometrics, Behavior, and Identity Science

More News

Group Job Openings

Our group is regularly posting job openings ranging from internships to researcher positions. To check the opportunities currently available or to submit a speculative applications use the link below.Our group is regularly posting job openings ranging from internships to researcher positions. To check the opportunities currently available or to submit a speculative applications use the link below.