In South Africa, ICASA – the government agency that regulates the communications sector – has issued a draft bill amendment for public comment that would require telecommunication operators to collect subscribers’ biometric data.
The regulator indicated that the draft bill amendment is aimed at suppressing SIM swap scams. “In many cases, the regulator has been shown cases where mobile numbers have been stolen by porting or SIM swap transaction,” said ICASA.
“The theft of mobile numbers may be of little signifies but is connected to a giant scam where personal data is hacked and used for criminal activities.”
The regulator says that linking cellphone numbers with the users’ biometric data will restrain scams on mobile numbers.
“Some cases by the authority have managed to connect cellphone numbers with the fingerprint of subscribers,” ICASA added.
The regulator further stated that this verification method is in motion and a feasible cure that subscribers do not misplace their given cellphone number.
It is still unclear as to how the process will roll out whether the biometric data will be fingerprints, facial recognition, voice recognition, iris scans, or a combination, thus giving the operators room to decide.
However, cellphone numbers belonging to law enforcers will be exempted from this regulation.
ICASA mentions that the interdict will work as follows: On activating a cellphone number on its network, operators must ensure that they have collected and assigned the subscriber’s biometric data to the number.
Operators must ensure that they have the current biometric data of an assigned cellphone number. Operators must only use the biometric data to verify subscribers. If a subscriber requests a SIM swap, operators must ensure the biometric data of the user requesting the swap corresponds with the biometric data associated with the mobile number.
