Project duration:
Sept 2020 - Aug 2024
IMARS
IMAGE MANIPULATION ATTACK RESOLVING SOLUTIONS
Project summary:
New tools for efficient verification of document integrity
The verification of travel documents' authenticity is key to border checks and forensic investigations. However, the growing complexity of document security and border control pressures often make it impossible to confirm whether documents are genuine or counterfeited. The EU-funded iMARS project aims to provide image morphing and manipulation attack detection solutions for the evaluation of ID document authenticity, ID document verification and fraud detection. iMARS will deliver mobile tools to check document integrity. The technology will be assessed from an ethical, legal and societal perspective, and validated in real border control conditions. iMARS will support standardisation of these solutions and of their evaluation protocols, and will provide training, guidelines and best practices to border guards, document investigators and passport application officers.
Objective
Though difficult to quantify, the variety of possible ID document frauds at borders is a reality that threatens politicians holding responsibility for borders as well as EU citizens. Based on the needs expressed by practitioners, the iMARS consortium has shaped a project that will:
1/ improve the operational capacity of passport application and border control operators by providing both - short-term adhoc solutions ensuring reliable passport application procedures - and mid-term solutions with no-reference and differential analysis solutions that can in particular detect manipulated and morphed passport images as well as document fraud. iMARS will provide:
- Image morphing and manipulation attack detection solutions to assess ID documents validity against document fraud, during enrolment and renewal steps, as well as at the border crossing stations
- Document verification and fraud detection solutions to support border guards in the verification process by providing mobile tools that can check document’s integrity
To reach the targeted TRL6, these technologies will be validated in laboratory conditions using operational data collected from six border control sites (with border to countries outside EU).
2/ ensure the uptake of its outcomes after the project’s end. iMARS will: - promote usability/ergonomic aspects by providing training, guidelines and best practices to border guards and passport application officers
- contribute to the ongoing standardisation efforts in the field of Presentation Attack Detection and face image quality
- provide open access benchmarks (2 datasets with multiple enrolment morphed face images and border gate probe images) on a specific testing platform serving follow-on research activities
- ensure that the technologies developed are accepted by citizens and respect privacy and legal EU regulations.
Project Leader:
Project link.
Overall budget € 6 988 521,25
Funding:
European Union
