Kazakhstan plans to make the collection of biometric data widespread and mandatory. The collection will be carried out through mandatory fingerprint registration of all citizens residing in Kazakhstan, foreigners as well as stateless persons. Dana Mukhamedzhanova, a lawyer and expert of “Biometrics Project KZ”, spoke about the problems associated with the security of storing Kazakhstan citizens’ biometric data at International Young Scholars Conference.
On 25-27 May, 2022, International Young Scholars Conference was held at Suleyman Demirel University. It was attended by master’s students, doctoral students and university professors.
“The International Young Scholars Conference took place for the sixth year and this year involved 110 speakers from different countries. The event was organised with the aim of sharing experiences, research practices, ideas and participation in workshops and trainings by foreign and domestic scientists. Speakers presented both offline and online,” said Alisher Tleubayev, Director of SDU Science Department.
During the conference, PhD student Dana Mukhamedzhanova presented a research paper entitled “Biometric Identification: Privacy Threat or Security Assurance?”.
“There are plans for the widespread and mandatory collection of biometric data in Kazakhstan. The collection will be carried out through mandatory fingerprint registration of all citizens residing in Kazakhstan, foreigners as well as stateless persons. This requirement also covers underage persons. The existing description of adopted measures will be realised in accordance with the Law on Dactyloscopic and Genomic Registration, which entered into force in stages. The first stage of entry into force occurred on 1 January 2021, while a second stage is planned for 2023. Dactyloscopy is the submission of fingerprints, i.e. biometric data. It is stipulated within the law that it is a compulsory measure,” she explained.
According to the lawyer, the research work included an analysis of legal approaches and experience of different models of legal regulation as well as law enforcement practice with regard to biometric identification of individuals and privacy protection. She also described issues related to the security of storing biometric data of Kazakhstan’s citizens.
“It should be understood that the storage of biometric data is planned in databases specifically designed for this purpose. However, there are a number of reasonable doubts and concerns about the security of the data storage. The existence of already known data leaks from public sector databases indicates a lack of effective controls, monitoring mechanisms to safeguard and limit access to databases. Of particular concern are the risks associated with unauthorised third party access to databases, fraudulent transactions, data entry errors and possible corruption, but also breaches of the principles of restricting access to information. It also remains unclear what order of formation of retention periods for fingerprint or genomic information, the specific necessity and expediency of such a long storage of personal information,” said Dana Mukhamedzhanova, Deputy Director of KAZGUU Higher School of Law.
International Young Scholars Conference is organised to exchange experience, research practices, ideas and to participate in seminars, trainings of experienced foreign and domestic scientists.
