The National Institute of Standards and Technology will issue new standards for federal agencies and contractors to develop identification cards with secure biometric reference, FCW reported Friday.
Mark Rockwell writes the NIST’s document will provide specifications for Personal Identity Verification biometric data and iris image format, intending to comply with the Federal Information Processing Standard 201.
Charles Romine, NIST’s director for information technology lab, told FCW the NIST collaborated with federal agencies and industry stakeholders to establish these specifications.
The document instructs agencies to verify PIV cardholders with iris imaging as an optional add-on and explains how to acquire and format the PIV system’s biometric references such as fingerprints, iris and facial images, FCW reports.
Romine told the publication the card can contain images of one or both eyes with a file size of 3 kilobytes per eye.
