Research

Verifiable credentials are an exciting innovation in decentralized and self-sovereign identity. However, the ease of copying digital files and sharing cryptographic keys makes an old problem from physical credential space more pressing: How do we prevent a credential from being used by someone other than its legitimate holder? Biometrics provide an answer -- but they also introduce some complexity as well as trust and privacy concerns that need careful treatment. In this article, we explore three patterns of biometric use with verifiable credentials, identify appropriate use cases for each, and recommend best practices that make the patterns trustworthy, robust, and interoperable.

Papers:

D. Hardman, L. Harchandani, A. Othman and J. Callahan, "Using Biometrics to Fight Credential Fraud," in IEEE Communications Standards Magazine, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 39-45, December 2019.

Most user authentication methods and identity proving systems rely on a centralized database. Such information storage presents a single point of compromise from a security perspective. If this system is compromised it poses a direct threat to users’ digital identities. This Work proposes a decentralized authentication method in which there is no such single point of compromise. The work relies on decentralized identifiers (DIDs) under development by the W3C Verifiable Claims Community Group and the concept of self-sovereign identity. To accomplish this, we propose specification and implementation of a decentralized biometric credential storage option via blockchains using DIDs and DID documents within the IEEE 2410-2017 Biometric Open Protocol Standard (BOPS).

Book Chapter:

Asem Othman and John Callahan, “A Protocol for Decentralized Biometric-based Self-Sovereign Identity Ecosystem ”, in Securing Social Identity in Mobile Platforms, Thirimachos Bourlai, Panagiotis Karampelas, Vishal M. Patel (Eds.), Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer Publishing, 2020.

Asem Othman and John Callahan, “The Horcrux Protocol: A Distributed Mobile Biometric Self-sovereign Identity Protocol ”, in Selfie Biometrics, Ajita Rattani, Reza Derakhshani, Arun Ross (Eds.), Advances in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition. Springer Publishing, 2019.

Papers:

A. Othman and John Callahan, "The Horcrux Protocol: A Method for Decentralized Biometric-based Self-sovereign Identity," Proc. of IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence (WCCI), Blockchain Research and Applications session, (Rio de Janerio, Brasil), July 2018.

We have developed a fingerprinting system that can be deployed on most smartphones, capturing prints with only the rear camera and the LED flash. These prints are interoperable with conventional touch-based print databases. This allows fingerprint identification to be rolled out to the general population as a software-only solution. This system features an automatic image capture system where we automatically detect each finger and enhance each finger's corresponding image to resemble a touch-based print. From start to finish the capture time is approximately 6 seconds with a favorable deployment footprint of under 10MB.

Book Chapter:

Asem Othman, Francis Mather, and Hector Hoyos, “Chapter11: 4F^TM-ID: Mobile Four-Fingers Biometrics System”, in Mobile Biometrics, Guodong Guo and Harry Weschler (Eds.), Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), 2017.

Papers:

L. Carney*, J. Kane, J. F. Mather, A. Othman, A. Simpson, A. Tavanai, R. Tyson, and Y. Xue, "A Multi-Finger Touchless Fingerprinting System: Mobile Fingerphoto and Legacy Database Interoperability," Proc. of International Conference on Biometric Engineering and Forensics (ICBEF 2017), (Seoul, South Korea), November 2017. *Authors are in alphabetical order.

We consider the problem of generating a biometric image from two different traits. Specifically, we focus on generating an IrisPrint that inherits its structure from a fingerprint image and an iris image. To facilitate this, the continuous phase of the fingerprint image, characterizing its ridge flow, is first extracted. Next, a scheme is developed to extract “minutiae” from an iris image. Finally, an IrisPrint, that resembles a fingerprint, is created by mixing the ridge flow of the fingerprint with the iris minutiae. Preliminary experiments suggest that the new biometric image (i.e., IrisPrint) (a) can potentially be used for authentication by an existing fingerprint matcher, and (b) can potentially conceal and preserve the privacy of the original fingerprint and iris images.

Papers:

A. Othman and A. Ross, “Fingerprint + Iris = IrisPrint,” Proc. of SPIE Conference on Biometric Technology for Human Identification XII, (Baltimore, USA), April 2015.

We consider the problem of perturbing a face image in such a way that it cannot be used to ascertain soft biometric attributes such as age, gender and race, but can be used for automatic face recognition. Such an exercise is useful for extending different levels of privacy to a face image in a central database. In this work, we focus on masking the gender information in a face image with respect to an automated gender estimation scheme, while retaining its ability to be used by a face matcher. To facilitate this privacy-enhancing technique, the input face image is combined with another face image via a morphing scheme resulting in a mixed image. The mixing process can be used to progressively modify the input image such that its gender information is progressively suppressed; however, the modified images can still be used for recognition purposes if necessary. Preliminary experiments on the MUCT database suggest the potential of the scheme in imparting " Differential privacy" to face images.

Papers:

A. Othman and A. Ross, "Privacy of Facial Soft Biometrics: Suppressing Gender But Retaining Identity," Proc. of ECCV Workshop on Soft Biometrics, (Zurich, Switzerland), September 2014.

The introduction of 3-dimensional (3D) volumetric technology and the massive amount of information that can be obtained from it compels the introduction of new methods and new technology for orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning. In this work, methods and tools are introduced for managing 3D images of orthodontic patients. These tools enable the creation of a virtual model and automatic localization of landmarks on the 3D volumes. They allow the user to isolate a targeted region such as the mandible or the maxilla, manipulate it, and then reattach it to the 3D model.

Papers:

A. Othman, A. El-Beialy, S. Fawzy, A. Kandil, A. El-Bialy, and Y. Mostafa, "Methods for managing 3-dimensional volumes," American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, vol. 137, no. 2, pp. 266–273, February 2010.

Thesis:

A. Othman, " A Novel Approach for developing a Complete Automatic 3D Cephalometric Analysis and Automatic Mandible, Maxilla and Dentition Separation System ", Master thesis, Systems and Biomedical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, 2008.

Visualization of genome comparison data is valuable for identifying genomic structural variations and determining evolutionary events. The dot plot mode of visualization is more appropriate and convenient for detecting large scale genome deletions, duplications, and rearrangements. In this work, we developed VisCHAINER to display dot plots of multiple genome comparisons in addition to the traditional linear mode. VisCHAINER is a stand-alone interactive visualization program that effectively handles large amounts of genome comparison data.

Papers:

A. Othman, A. Martin, D. Butterstein and M. Abouelhoda, "VisCHAINER: Visualizing Genome Comparison," Proc. of IEEE Cairo International Biomedical Engineering Conference (CIBEC), (Cairo, Egypt), December 2008.