ISO/IEC 27553-1:2022

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 27553-1
First edition
2022-11
Information security, cybersecurity
and privacy protection — Security
and privacy requirements for
authentication using biometrics on
mobile devices —
Part 1:
Local modes
Reference number
© ISO/IEC 2022
© ISO/IEC 2022
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© ISO/IEC 2022 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 S c op e . 1
2 Nor m at i ve r ef er enc e s . 1
3 Terms and definitions . 1
4 Abbr ev i at ed t er m s . 5
5 S e c u r it y c h a l len g e s .5
5.1 G eneral . 5
5.2 S ecurity challenges common to all biometric systems . 5
5.3 S ecurity challenges specific to authentication using biometrics on mobile devices . 6
5.3.1 Diversity across mobile devices. 6
5.3.2 Open computation environment . 6
5.3.3 Operation in an unsupervised environment . 6
6 S y s t em de s c r ip t ion .7
6.1 A n example architecture . 7
6.2 E ntities and components . 7
6.2.1 B iometric system . 7
6.2.2 R elying party agent . 8
6 . 2 . 3 Aut hent ic at ion a g ent. 8
6.2.4 R elying party server . 9
6 . 2 . 5 Aut hent ic at ion s er ver . 9
7 I n f or m at ion a s s e t s . 9
8 T h r e at a n a l y s i s .10
8.1 T hreats to the biometric system . 10
8.2 T hreats to the authentication and relying party agents . 10
9 Security requirements and recommendations .11
9.1 G eneral . 11
9.2 B iometric system . 11
9. 3 Mobi le de v ic e . 12
10 P r i v ac y c on s ider at ion s .13
10.1 G eneral .13
10.2 P rivacy policy for biometric data . . 14
10.3 O ther privacy considerations . 14
Annex A (informative) Implementation example .15
Annex B (informative) Security issues related to communication between agents and
servers for authentication using biometric on mobile devices .21
Annex C (informative) An example of authentication assurance and assurance levels .22
Bibliography .29
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© ISO/IEC 2022 – All rights reserved

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are
members of ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical
committees established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical
activity. ISO and IEC technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the
work.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance
are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria
needed for the different types of document should be noted. This document was drafted in
accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives or
www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject
of patent rights. ISO and IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent
rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the
Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents) or the IEC
list of patent declarations received (see https://patents.iec.ch).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and
expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to
the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) see
www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html. In the IEC, see www.iec.ch/understanding-standards.
This document was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 27, Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection.
A list of all parts in the ISO/IEC 27553 series can be found on the ISO and IEC websites.
Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards
body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html and
www.iec.ch/national-committees.
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© ISO/IEC 2022 – All rights reserved

Introduction
The functionalities and computation capabilities of consumer-grade mobile devices are evolving fast.
Authentication technologies using biometrics based on physiological or behavioural characteristics (e.g.
fingerprint, face, voiceprint) have been developed and widely adopted across various mobile platforms.
Compared to traditional authentication methods on mobile devices such as passwords, patterns, or
SMS messages, biometric characteristics are easy to use and hard to share. Authentication methods
using biometrics can, in some respects, provide a secure, reliable, and convenient solution, albeit with
some potentially awkward restrictions.
However, the fragmentation of computing environments for mobile devices (e.g. different operating
systems, different trusted environment implementations, different biometric system implementations,
and open computation environments in mobile devices) often results in inconsistent implementations,
which potentially increase the risks of vulnerabilities in, and attacks against, mobile devices. This
fragmentation makes it even more necessary to analyse security challenges, threats, and security
frameworks for authentication using biometrics on mobile devices. It is also necessary to specify the
high-level security requirements that can mitigate the security risks for applications of authentication
using biometrics in mobile devices.
Biometrics in this document is used for authentication on mobile devices whose result is consumed by
relying parties. This document applies to the cases where the biometric data and any derived biometric
data, except information on the verification outcome, do not leave the device, i.e. local modes.
This document provides high-level security requirements and recommendations for authentication
using biometrics on mobile devices, including for functional components and for communication
between the biometric system and the mobile applications requesting authentication success. Detailed
security requirements are left to implementations. This document also analyses security challenges,
threats, and security frameworks for authentication using biometrics on mobile devices.
The following contents are not addressed in this document:
— Identity proofing and enrolment requirements.
— The use of biometrics for authentication to applications which are entirely local to the mobile device
and no remote service is involved.
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© ISO/IEC 2022 – All rights reserved

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO/IEC 27553-1:2022(E)
Information security, cybersecurity and privacy
protection — Security and privacy requirements for
authentication using biometrics on mobile devices —
Part 1:
Local modes
1 S cope
This document provides high-level security and privacy requirements and recommendations for
authentication using biometrics on mobile devices, including security and privacy requirements and
recommendations for functional components and for communication.
This document is applicable to the cases that the biometric data and derived biometric data do not leave
the device, i.e. local modes.
2 Normat ive references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO/IEC 24745:2022, Information security, cybersecurity and privacy protection — Biometric information
protection
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https:// www .iso .org/ obp
— IEC Electropedi
...