Worldcoin has taken a step towards transparency by opening up the software component of its Orb biometric device. The move enables external verification of the company’s data privacy claims and gives experts the ability to examine how Orb captures images, processes biometric data and transmits it to the World app.
Such an infrastructure will promote a community-driven review process, where independent verification and public reporting of findings will contribute to ensuring Orba’s adherence to protocols governing data privacy and security.
An important component of Orb’s software, the do_signup function within the orb-core repository, is now available for study. This feature describes the technological mechanisms behind each World ID verification process, including image capture, biometric processing and secure data transmission.
While the software can generate high-quality images of eyes and faces, the company admits it faced challenges integrating the autofocus system. Their Rust-based software uses a feedback controller, which has a neural network to determine sharpness estimates in real time.
During the next biometric phase of image processing, the custom neural networks and Gabor filter implementation are accessed through the Python interface. The software first checks that the images have not been altered or artificially developed.
Next, the Iris Recognition System (IRIS), a software created by Tools for Humanity and then released as open source by Worldcoin, is used to analyze images of the eye.
The Rust programming language has been optimized to reduce the negative impact of frequent reloading of components such as IRIS and other models. This was achieved with a design inspired by the Android Zygote process.
Worldcoin says the software implementation on Orb protects users’ control over their data through advanced security mechanisms. These mechanisms include signing with Orb’s private key and encryption with the user’s public key.
A dedicated security element inside the Orb performs the signing process, which is cryptographically paired with the Nvidia Jetson platform during production. The encryption process uses a sealed box to guarantee that only the intended recipient can decrypt the transmitted biometric data, the company said in a blog post.
The privacy claims of Orb’s architecture were reviewed by Trail of Bits, a security research firm.
According to Worldcoin, certain aspects of orb-core and orb-secure-elements contain sensitive code that has been forked for public use. Their strategy to reduce the need for these forks is to gradually open the software components, which will allow them to develop all non-sensitive parts of the software in an open manner.
Such efforts, the company says, contribute to the larger goal of prioritizing user privacy, data security and transparent governance.
Topics of articles
biometrics | data privacy | biometrics of the iris | open source | research and development | Tools for Humanity | Worldcoin