The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has introduced a new security layer with a feature called "liveliness" of the fingerprints in the Aadhar-enabled payment system (AePS), ET reported. It intends to prevent the use of fake fingerprints for fraudulently withdrawing money using AePS, a senior government official told ET. What is the Aadhar-enabled Payment system (AePS)? This system allows basic transactions like cash deposits/withdrawals and balance enquiry, to be carried out just by using biometric information, which connects to Aadhar-linked bank accounts. These transactions can be carried out at PoS/Micro ATMs through a bank's Business Correspondent/Bank Mitra using the Aadhar authentication. Why it matters: A man was arrested in Uttar Pradesh for cloning the fingerprints of 165 people and fraudulently transferring around Rs 15-20 lakh using the AePS, Medianama had reported. Cases like these raise questions on financial security of those using the Aadhar-linked biometric data for payments. “These details, such as fingerprints and masked Aadhaar, are uploaded by the land revenue department officials as part of efforts to be transparent about who owns which tract of land. But fraudsters downloaded these fingerprints and cloned them onto silicon pads using high-end printers," an official told ET. The rollout of the "liveliness" feature: “It is a sort of software upgrade. We upgraded all the active devices remotely and introduced changes which will check whether the fingerprint being used belongs to a person who is alive or not,” the official told ET. It is not yet clear how the technology will work. In an unrelated blog post, Technology…
