News
Setelsa Security Selects SAFR® from RealNetworks to Provide Face-Based Biometrics for Secure Access
December 2020 by Marc Jacob
Setelsa Security, an Amper Group company and thirty-year industry expert in secure access and time and attendance control systems, has chosen SAFR from RealNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK) to provide face-based biometrics for its clients in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and Argentina. Integrating SAFR face recognition will enhance Setelsa’s secure access solutions, enabling clients to deploy touchless, face-based authentication.
“SAFR from RealNetworks is an extremely solid, lean, and high-performance biometric solution that brings us not just face recognition, but also new innovations such as mask detection. SAFR’s strong ethics in the development and use of its biometric technology make it a perfect partner for Setelsa and our portfolio of selective clients,” said Sergio Gomez, CEO of Setelsa Security.
The partnership integrates SAFR’s AI-based computer vision technology — face detection, face recognition, and mask detection — into Setelsa’s market-leading secure access solutions. Face-based secure access has many advantages over traditional card- or pin-based authentication methods and over alternative biometrics such as fingerprint authorization. SAFR’s industry leading recognition accuracy for masked faces, now exceeding 98.85%, ensures subjects do not need to remove PPE to be recognized at a secure access point.
“Recent research to improve liveness assurance — including the ability to detect fraudulent attempts to spoof identities and issue real-time alerts — has strengthened SAFR’s readiness for real-world secure access deployments. This development is thanks in part to a research grant awarded to RealNetworks by the United States Air Force,” said Eric Hess, Sr. Director of Product Management, SAFR from RealNetworks.
Initially targeting physical and logical access control use cases, SAFR’s presentation attack detection (also referred to as liveness detection or spoofing detection) works on RGB video streams from a wide range of COTS camera types including — IP-based surveillance, USB webcams, and cameras embedded in devices including ATMs, slot machines, smartphones, and tablets. SAFR can detect spoofing attempts including faces printed on paper and displayed as static images or video on digital devices. Coupled with SAFR’s alerting capabilities, intrusion attempts can be denied and security staff alerted to fraudulent penetration attempts in real time.
The initial focus of the SAFR and Setelsa partnership will be deploying the combined access control solution at multiple locations for a top Setelsa client in the banking sector — an industry on the forefront of security technology. Expansion of face-based secure access across additional verticals where Setelsa has a strong client base will follow.
“The combination of SAFR’s high-performance computer vision and Setelsa’s leading access control technology has resulted in a truly best-in-class offering for Setelsa’s clients across banking, retail, and many other industries,” said Jose Larrucea, Senior VP of International Sales, SAFR. “Touchless access control that can accurately authenticate users wearing PPE is a game changer and this capability will remain useful even post-pandemic.”
