Virtual special issue on advances in digital security: Biometrics and forensics

Nowadays, there is a strong interest by governments, organizations, and companies across the world in adopting and using forensic tools and biometric technologies to address issues surrounding face identification, frauds, civil crimes, fake news, and terrorism. Although biometrics and forensics deal with different aspects of security, they both support law enforcement and forensics investigations. Both disciplines also have to adapt to the constant evolution of technologies and countermeasures. Moreover, new scenarios arise where techniques designed for biometrics can be utilized for forensic purposes, or vice-versa. Furthermore, the recent impact of deep learning techniques on major pattern recognition application areas, including biometrics and forensics, poses new challenges, including security issues, to this field. The aim of this special issue is to gather innovative contributions in the field of security, forensics, and biometrics. This special issue received 37 submissions. After a rigorous peer-review process, 18 papers were accepted (acceptance rate 46%). This special issue covers a wide range of subjects, including many key areas like Biometrics, Soft Biometrics, Steganalysis, Forensics Analysis. The following is an overview of the accepted papers.