EU research projects target face morph attacks threatening border, identity systems The European Biometrics Association (EAB)’s recent morphing workshop highlighted two Horizon Europe research projects developing new defenses against face morph attacks targeting identity systems and border controls. Project EINSTEIN and the SafeTravellers project are working to improve morph attack detection (MAD) as generative AI makes facial image manipulation increasingly accessible. Morph attacks, which blend multiple faces into a single image, can be used to obtain identity documents that may later authenticate more than one person. The threat is particularly relevant for passports, visas and digital identity systems that rely on facial biometrics as a primary trust anchor. As AI tools make creating realistic morphs easier, cheaper and more convincing, detecting manipulated facial images is becoming a critical component of border security, credential issuance and digital identity assurance. The toolkit for creating face morph attacks has evolved rapidly, from traditional landmark-warping techniques to diffusion-based image generation. Advanced morph attack detection systems must therefore identify manipulated images produced by a wide range of methods while accounting for variations in image quality, capture environments and database diversity. As governments expand digital identity programs and biometric border controls, robust morph detection is becoming a critical layer of identity security. Project EINSTEIN wants to make sure morph attacks aren’t spoiling ID databases Project EINSTEIN, funded for three years under the Horizon Europe program, is focused on “innovating security in identity management and identity and travel documents for police and border authorities.” But a talk by Dr. Jonathan Boyle of the University of Reading focuses on detecting face morphs, and specifically looks at how “importing low quality or manipulated face images into ID databases can lead to security risks” like false identifications. Project EINSTEIN looks for potential manipulation and checks the image quality of ID