Starting today, facial authentication is mandatory for mobile phone activation.

Starting today, in order to activate a new mobile phone, you must go from simply presenting your ID to verifying your identity through a facial authentication process that involves taking a photo of your face on the Pass app. This is to prevent Daepo phone crimes in which mobile phones opened by submitting stolen or forged ID cards are misused for voice phishing and smishing.

According to telecommunication authorities and the industry on the 23rd, the Ministry of Science and ICT will pilot a system that requires face authentication when the three telecommunications companies and budget phone operators open mobile phones in a face-to-face or non-face-to-face manner starting from this day.

Although some raise concerns that an individual’s facial information may be collected and leaked during the facial authentication process, authorities and the telecommunications industry emphasize that the information is not stored or used for purposes other than identity verification.

Once it is confirmed that the face photo on the ID card and the ID card holder are the same person, only the result (Y·N) is stored and managed, and biometric information used for authentication is not left on the mobile phone, Pass App, or management system where the photo was taken.

However, due to the advancement of hacking threats, solutions that do not store information as a default cannot be guaranteed to be 100% safe from theft of personal information, so technical supplementation for areas of public concern is continuously required.

Reporter Park Jeong-mi (

likepea@busan.com

)

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There may be many people who are reluctant at first.