BASE

Biometric Autographed Signature Encryption

BASE

Biometric Autographed Signature Encryption

Project & Stakeholders

Project Lead

Keyless

Keyless has emerged victorious in a competing challenge between several cybersecurity startups, securing the prestigious Bando Associazione Cyber 4.0 n. 1/2024 funding - part of the PNRR (Missione 4, Componente 2, Investimento 2.3).

Academic Partner

Sapienza University

The Competence Center of Sapienza University in Rome has been responsible for supporting research activities, validating protocols, and conducting technical testing, specifically tasked with the state of the art analysis of the current technology framework for encrypted signatures.

Industrial Stakeholder

TIM - Telecom Italia

TIM and Keyless are engaged in the joint development of the solution within the TIM environment for testing purposes, with a strategic goal of a joint go-to-market collaboration in the near future.

The Challenge

In a regulatory landscape shaped by PSD3 and SCA, organizations need a signing method that is: frictionless for end users, provably secure, and explicitly privacy-compliant.

Existing authentication and signing technologies – such as passwords, SMS OTPs, physical tokens, or traditional biometrics – suffer from limited security, high cost, low usability, and significant privacy risks.

Our Solution: BASE

BASE introduces a new model of digital signing designed for maximum security, usability, and

privacy.

The solution enables:

Unique encryption keys generated directly from biometric features using fuzzy extractors.
Digital signing and authentication confirmed through zero-knowledge proofs, meaning the biometric never needs to be revealed or stored.
End-to-end secure flows integrated into a – mobile SDK and supported by a demonstration app for rapid testing and adoption.

The Project

It spanned 13 months, structured across three main operational phases involving interdisciplinary teams specialized in cryptography, software development, and biometric security.

The initial research phase (WP1R) covered the first three months, focusing on cryptographic protocol design and analysis of privacy-preserving solutions. The research team conducted comparative studies to identify the optimal approach for biometric data protection, evaluating and selecting the most suitable cryptographic technique.

From the fourth to sixth month (WP2R), the team developed the functional prototype, creating the digital signature engine and the biometric-based key generation module. The development team translated research findings into operational software components, testing and validating each system element.

The final phase (WP3R), spanning months seven through nine, focused on integration and demonstration.

The BASE engine was incorporated into the Keyless mobile SDK for easy access by third-party developers, while a demonstration application was developed to validate the entire functional chain and showcase the solution's potential to stakeholders and prospective customers.