ISO/IEC 24787:2018

Overview

ISO/IEC 24787:2018 - "Information technology - Identification cards - On-card biometric comparison" defines architectures, processes and security policies for performing biometric comparison inside an integrated circuit card (ICC). The standard covers on-card biometric comparison for sensor-off-card systems and as part of biometric system-on-card, work‑sharing techniques that split processing between the ICC and the interface device (IFD), and security policy requirements for protecting biometric reference data retained on-card. It explicitly does not set requirements for off-card comparison, general biometric system-on-card requirements defined in ISO/IEC 17839, or modality‑specific storage/comparison rules.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Architectures: Definitions and models for off-card, sensor-off-card on-card comparison, work‑sharing, and biometric system‑on‑card architectures using an ICC.
• Data and formats: Rules for biometric reference handling, biometric data formats and data objects used in on‑card verification (references to CBEFF and biometric template formats are included).
• Processes: Enrollment, biometric verification, comparison and result output flows; application selection (AID) and APDU interactions for invoking on‑card biometric operations.
• Biometric comparison parameters: Management of application-level on‑card comparison parameters and functionality information provided by the ICC.
• Work‑sharing: Procedures to split signal processing or matching between the IFD and the ICC when ICC compute power is limited.
• Security policies: Minimum security policy, biometric reference management policies, retry counter management, and policy variants (SP1/SP2) for global vs application‑specific comparison parameters.
• Supporting materials: Informative annexes provide sample APDUs, examples of one biometric reference for multiple applications, implementation examples, and security considerations.

Practical applications and users

ISO/IEC 24787:2018 is intended for implementers and stakeholders designing secure biometric authentication on smart cards and similar ICC devices, including:

• Smartcard and secure element manufacturers
• Biometric solution vendors and integrators
• Government ID and national identity program architects
• Access control and secure authentication system designers
• Payment and credential issuers evaluating on-card biometric verification to protect biometric references

On-card biometric comparison is valuable where protecting biometric reference data and privacy is critical - for example, secure ID documents, personal authentication tokens, and high‑security access control.

Related standards

• ISO/IEC 7816-4, 7816-11 (ICC organization, commands, biometric verification)
• ISO/IEC 19785-3, ISO/IEC 19794 (biometric data formats / CBEFF)
• ISO/IEC 24761 (authentication context for biometrics)
• ISO/IEC 17839 (biometric system-on-card) - referenced but not overridden
• ISO/IEC 29794 (biometric sample quality)

Keywords: ISO/IEC 24787:2018, on-card biometric comparison, ICC, sensor-off-card, work-sharing, biometric reference, smartcard security, biometric verification.