Trusted Revocable Biometric Identities

TURBINE (TrUsted Revocable Biometric IdeNtitiEs) is a research project awarded
6.3 Million Euro funding by the European Union under the Seventh Framework
Programme (FP7) for Research and Technology Development.

Lasting three years, TURBINE aims to develop innovative digital identity
solutions, combining secure, automatic user identification thanks to electronic
fingerprint authentication and reliable protection of the biometrics data through
advanced cryptography technology.

Research efforts will focus on transformation of a description of fingerprints,
so that the result can only be re-generated by the person with the fingerprints.
TURBINE will hence provide the assurance that:

  1. the data used for the authentication, generated from the fingerprint, cannot
     be used to restore the original fingerprint sample
  2. the individual will be able to create different "pseudo-identities" for
     different applications with the same fingerprint, whilst ensuring that these
     different identities (and hence the related personal data) cannot be linked
     to each other, and
  3. the individual is enabled to revoke an identity for a given application in
     case it should not be used anymore.

The outcome of the project is intended to meet usage requirements for various
market segments, such as ebanking, eGovernment, eHealth, physical access control,
and mobile telecommunications.

The TURBINE consortium comprises major players in biometrics and cryptography,
including Sagem Sécurité, Philips Research Europe, Sagem Orga, Precise Biometrics
in Sweden, Cryptolog and ARTTIC in France, 3D-GAA S.A. in Greece, as well as
academic research groups from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium and
Gjøvik University College in Norway. In addition, two 
(http://www.turbine-project.eu/advisors.php)expert groups have been set up to
advise the consortium on data protection and privacy regulations and requirements
of key application sectors for electronic identity management solutions.