DHS S&T Opens Demo Entries to Remote Identity Validation Technology Challenge Track 3

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate has launched Track 3 of the Remote Identity Validation Technology Demonstration challenge series initiated in December 2022. The series is a platform for private developers to demonstrate and evaluate systems for authenticating identification documents through the examination of their images generated from smartphones and similar devices. 

The Transportation Security Administration, Homeland Security Investigations Forensic Laboratory and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are agency partners in the RIVTD challenge, the DHS said Tuesday.

RIVTD Track 3 will focus on demonstrations of the systems’ capability to weed out malicious attempts to impersonate bona-fide users. The previous Track 1 demonstrations concentrated on identity document authentication, while Track 2 demos were on fraud detection through the comparison of ID pictures and selfie photos. Demonstration slots for Tracks 1 and 2 are already closed, the DHS noted.

According to Arun Vemury, S&T senior engineering advisor for identity technologies, RIVTD’s launch has received “a tremendous response from diverse stakeholders.” Emerging powerful and widely accessible technologies highlight the need to develop tools to combat identity fraud, Vemury added.

An independent TSA assessment of the demonstrations is being completed to provide an objective performance baseline across the vendor community, Jason Lim, the agency’s identity capability manager, said.