Face Biometrics Under Spoofing Attacks: Vulnerabilities, Countermeasures, Open Issues, and Research Directions

Among tangible threats and vulnerabilities facing current biometric systems are spoofing attacks. A spoofing attack occurs when a person tries to masquerade as someone else by falsifying data and thereby gaining illegitimate access and advantages. Recently, an increasing attention has been given to this research problem. This can be attested by the growing number of articles and the various competitions that appear in major biometric forums. We have recently participated in a large consortium (TABULARASA) dealing with the vulnerabilities of existing biometric systems to spoofing attacks with the aim of assessing the impact of spoofing attacks, proposing new countermeasures, setting standards/protocols, and recording databases for the analysis of spoofing attacks to a wide range of biometrics including face, voice, gait, fingerprints, retina, iris, vein, electro-physiological signals (EEG and ECG). The goal of this position paper is to share the lessons learned about spoofing and anti-spoofing in face biometrics, and to highlight open issues and future directions.