Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) has tested a new technology, face recognition for boarding at stations. This breakthrough received appreciation from many parties. However, data security needs to be considered.
The trial was carried out on September 28 at Bandung Station. This technology is expected to make it easier for long-distance train passengers because they don’t have to bother showing various documents, such as physical boarding passes, e-boarding passes, ID cards, including vaccination documents.
Regarding the use of technology, a cyber security expert, Alfons Tanujaya, said (7/10), face recognition can indeed provide the benefits of faster services because it reduces queues with lower investment costs.
The reason is that the main device needed for face recognition is a smartphone camera that is already available at a relatively cheap price. In addition, the accuracy of this technology has also experienced a very rapid increase, it can even perform fairly accurate recognition, even though the scanned face is wearing a mask.
However, Alfons said, just like other database technologies, facial recognition is biometric data that needs to be managed and secured properly because if it falls into the wrong hands, the exploitation of this technology can harm the owner of the biometric data.
“Although it is not the first institution to implement facial recognition, KAI’s steps should be appreciated and this shows that KAI management has a fairly good understanding of the available technology,” said Alfons in his official statement received, Friday (7/10/2022).
He said that the use of facial recognition can also reduce queues for identity identification with relatively low investment costs. In addition to making it easier for users, this technology can also provide service providers with a more reliable database.
The data includes information on purchased travel tickets, health/vaccination information as a travel requirement, and demographic information on relevant face recognition owners.
“In addition, the good facial recognition database implementation can also prevent criminal acts where pickpockets or perpetrators of sexual harassment who have been identified can be specifically monitored or prevented from using the service,” said Alfons further explaining.
Through registration, face recognition identification can also prevent misuse of leaked population data. Because the registration process only needs to be done once using an original and verified ID card.
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