Giving You Back Your Identity

A new biometric barcode protocol from FaceTec promises to close the gap between documents and their holders – merging cryptography, biometrics and QR technology into a single, privacy-preserving identity layer.

Binding identities

Identity fraud continues to grow in sophistication, challenging even the most advanced document inspection systems.

Traditional credentials – driving licences, ID cards and passports – still rely heavily on human verification and static visual features, leaving them vulnerable to counterfeiting and impersonation.

At September’s Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) conference, FaceTec described its powerful alternative: cryptographically signed biometric barcodes, known as UR Codes (short for ‘You Are’). The concept, detailed in the company’s ODDS 2025 paper, replaces human judgment with mathematically verifiable proof of authenticity – cryptographically binding an identity document to the unique biometric characteristics of its rightful holder.