Aware Achieves Best-in-Class Performance in DHS RIVTD Testing for Passive Liveness Detection
- Achieved best-in-class performance in DHS RIVTD testing for passive liveness detection
- Demonstrated superior efficiency compared to active PAD solutions with faster processing speeds
- Successfully validated technology through independent government agency testing
- Previous strong performance in 2023 NIST FATE-PAD testing shows consistent excellence
- None.
Insights
Aware's top performance in DHS testing validates their passive liveness detection technology, potentially boosting their competitive position in the biometric authentication market.
The announcement that Aware has achieved best-in-class performance in the Department of Homeland Security's RIVTD testing represents a significant technical validation for the company's passive liveness detection technology. This isn't just an incremental improvement—it's recognition from a federal agency in a competitive evaluation designed to simulate real-world fraud scenarios.
What makes this particularly notable is the competitive advantage highlighted between passive and active liveness detection approaches. The test results revealed that while both can be effective against fraud, passive systems (like Aware's) provide significantly better user experience with faster processing times and fewer failures. This addresses a critical market need: security that doesn't create friction for legitimate users.
The timing is strategic, with Aware announcing these results at Identiverse 2025, positioning them to capitalize on the validation in front of key industry decision-makers. The company is also shrewdly using this moment to preview upcoming capabilities, including their patented bright screen reflection algorithm and behavioral algorithms for the RIVR 2025 testing.
This validation builds on Aware's previous strong performance in the 2023 NIST FATE-PAD testing, establishing a pattern of excellence across multiple independent evaluations. For a technology company in the competitive biometric authentication space, this third-party validation significantly strengthens their market position and sales narrative when competing for contracts in high-security sectors like banking, government services, and digital identity verification.
Results Underscore the Strength of Aware Approach to Combating Fraud Without User Friction
LAS VEGAS, June 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aware, Inc. (NASDAQ: AWRE), a leading global biometric authentication company, announced today that it achieved best-in-class performance in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Remote Identity Validation Technology Demonstration (RIVTD), specifically excelling with passive liveness detection in Track 3: presentation attack detection (PAD).
Led by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate, the RIVTD program challenged industry leaders to deliver secure, accurate, and user-friendly remote identity validation technologies that address real-world threats such as identity fraud during digital onboarding for services like banking, government benefits, and social media.
The Aware solution demonstrated top-tier performance in passive liveness detection, according to threshold-adjusted scores from the latest RIVTD test event. While DHS RIVTD testing showed some active and passive PAD systems were effective in detecting fraud, active systems proved to be significantly less convenient due to their much slower processing speeds. Passive liveness detection methods verify a live user without requiring interaction or specific movements—making them more seamless and resistant to spoofing attempts. Active PAD solutions, on the other hand, require users to engage with prompts, causing significantly longer transaction times and increased failure rates, leading to more friction and a negative user experience. Many active solutions also failed to meet security standards, demonstrating the higher caliber of efficiency and usability of passive liveness detection.
“Independent evaluations like RIVTD are vital for validating the security and reliability of biometric technologies,” said Ajay Amlani, CEO of Aware. “We are proud that our passive liveness detection technology led the field in the RIVTD Track 3 testing, demonstrating our strength in combating identity fraud and reducing friction, and reconfirming our previous performance in the 2023 NIST FATE-PAD testing for detecting advanced spoofing techniques. Aware remains committed to delivering fast, accurate, and secure biometric solutions that are validated by leading government agencies like DHS.”
RIVTD test events are held at the Maryland Test Facility (MdTF) in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, and are designed to simulate realistic attack scenarios. These evaluations assess technologies for identity document verification, selfie-to-ID photo matching, and liveness detection using smartphones and other commodity devices.
Aware commends the many organizations and teams behind rigorous, independent evaluations like RIVTD, which are essential for establishing trust, raising the bar for biometric performance, and shaping the future of secure, standardized digital identity technologies. Aware is also looking forward to participating in the upcoming RIVR 2025 testing to showcase our full arsenal of advanced liveness features not included in the 2024 test, such as our patented bright screen reflection algorithm and suite of behavioral algorithms. In future DHS rallies, we anticipate testing our advanced image injection prevention and detection algorithms, as well as our continually updated deepfake detection models.
The Aware Team is excited to share this news while participating in Identiverse 2025, the premier event for digital identity professionals. Attendees are invited to visit Aware at booth #212 to learn more about our industry-leading biometric innovations, including continuing advancements of our patented bright screen reflection algorithm, which boosts the power of our top tier PAD algorithms even higher – adding the security benefits of active liveness to the already powerful, seamless experience of passive liveness.
About Aware
Aware is a global biometric platform company that uses data science and machine learning to tackle everyday business and identity challenges through biometrics. For over 30 years we’ve been a trusted name in the field. Aware’s offerings address the growing challenges that government and commercial enterprises face in knowing, authenticating and securing individuals through frictionless and highly secure user experiences. Our algorithms are based on diverse operational data sets from around the world, and we prioritize integrating biometric technology in an ethical and responsible manner. Aware is a publicly held company (NASDAQ: AWRE) based in Burlington, Massachusetts. To learn more, visit our website or follow us on LinkedIn and X.
Safe Harbor Warning
Portions of this release contain forward-looking statements regarding future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties, such as estimates or projections of future revenue, earnings and non-recurring charges, and the growth of the biometrics markets. Aware wishes to caution you that there are factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results indicated by such statements.
Risk factors related to our business include, but are not limited to: i) we face intense competition from other biometrics solution providers; ii) our business is subject to rapid technological change; iii) our software products may have errors, defects or bugs which could harm our business; iv) our business may be adversely affected by our use of open source software; v) we rely on third party software to develop and provide our solutions and significant defects in third party software could harm our business; and vi) we may be sued by third parties for alleged infringement of their proprietary rights;.
We refer you to the documents Aware files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the section titled Risk Factors in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 and other reports and filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Acknowledgement and Disclaimer
This publication is based upon work conducted under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cooperative Research and Development Agreement No. 24-TCBI-014.
The views and/or conclusions contained in this document are those of the author(s) and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and do not constitute a DHS endorsement of the equipment tested or evaluated.
For more information on these results, please reach out directly to DHS or contact Aware.
CONTACT
Company Contact
Delaney Gembis
Aware, Inc.
781-687-0393
marketing@aware.com
DHS Technical POC
Arun Vemury
Biometric and Identity Technology Center
Science and Technology Directorate
Arun.Vemurv@hq.dhs.gov
(202) 254-6830
FAQ
What did Aware (AWRE) achieve in the DHS RIVTD testing?
How does Aware's passive liveness detection compare to active PAD systems?
What upcoming features will Aware showcase in RIVR 2025?
Where was the DHS RIVTD testing conducted?
What previous testing success has Aware demonstrated?
