The government will introduce a facial authentication step to verify identity when activating mobile phones. Some are concerned that facial authentication could leak personal facial data, but authorities and the telecom industry stress that the government will not use it for any purpose other than identity verification.
The Ministry of Science and ICT said on the 19th that, starting on the 23rd, the three telecom carriers and budget phone operators will pilot an additional facial authentication step when activating mobile phones in person or remotely, aiming to eradicate burner phones used for financial fraud crimes such as voice phishing.
Currently, identity is verified by linking the ID presented by the user with the issuing agency. Going forward, biometric authentication that compares in real time whether the face photo on the ID matches the actual face of the person presenting the ID will be added. This is expected to block not only the theft and forgery of IDs and the lending of identities, but also the activation of burner phones. Voice phishing losses tallied through Nov. this year reached 1.133 trillion won. For the first time ever, the total surpassed 1 trillion won.
Full implementation of the facial authentication step is on Mar. 23 next year. The facial authentication step will be carried out using the PASS app operated by the three telecom carriers. It can be used even without signing up for the app. In the authentication process, only whether the ID photo and the real face match is checked and only the result is saved, and the biometric data used for authentication is not separately stored or retained, the Ministry of Science and ICT said.
Choi Woo-hyeok, director general for network policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "Eradicating burner phones is the first step in preventing digital livelihood crimes," and added, "Even if there are some difficulties early in the introduction of facial authentication, we ask for active cooperation, including all carriers adopting facial authentication early while minimizing user inconvenience."