Face Recognition as an Authentication Method

Imprivata MDA supports face recognition as an authentication method.

Assumptions

The configuration tasks in this topic assume that:

Requirements

  • You must sign a Cloud Services Amendment to use face recognition authentication in a production environment.

  • The Imprivata Cloud Connect service to your tenant on the Imprivata Cloud Platform must be up and running.

  • Users in a policy enabled for face recognition must be synced from Active Directory (AD) to Entra ID.

  • The cloud must be synced from AD to Entra ID with Entra Connect.

  • Each user in scope for the facial recognition workflow must exist within Entra ID and each user must also be allocated a P1 or higher Microsoft license.

  • Internet access is required for facial biometric authentication.

    If the device cannot connect with your Imprivata Cloud Platform, an error message will appear during authentication. In this scenario, the user can select another authentication method (password / Imprivata PIN, etc) to complete the authentication.

  • Imprivata Licensing: Face recognition authentication requires an Authentication Management license and a Confirm ID for Remote Access license, in addition to your Imprivata MDA licenses. For more information, see Imprivata Licensed Features.

  • Face recognition requires camera permission to be granted on the device.

    If you add the AppConfig flag requireCameraPermission, the camera permission is handled along with other permissions upon Imprivata MDA first run.

    Imprivata MDA also checks whether the permission is granted before starting camera for face recognition. If the permission is not granted, Imprivata MDA prompts the user to grant it.

Considerations

Consider the following information for this feature:

  • Face recognition is not supported with offline mode.

  • Biometric data is not stored on the device.

  • Supports face masks

  • Imprivata MDA face recognition is not supported for the Epic Rover witness authentication workflow in this release.

Before You Begin

Face recognition authentication for Imprivata MDA requires:

  1. The Imprivata appliances in your Imprivata enterprise must be running Imprivata Enterprise Access Management 25.3 or later.

    NOTE:

    EAM 25.3 will be released in early October 2025.

    For more information on upgrading your Imprivata appliances, see the Imprivata Upgrade portal.

  2. Complete the connection between your Imprivata enterprise and your tenant on the Imprivata Control Center. See Secure Connection to Imprivata Cloud Platform.

  3. Imprivata MDA 8.0 or later.

Secure Connection to Imprivata Cloud Platform

Configure the secure connection between your Imprivata appliances and the Imprivata Cloud Platform. To confirm whether this connection is complete, on the Imprivata Admin Console, see the Status panel on the right-hand side. Look for a green checkmark icon for Access Management integration.

Imprivata Access Management Setup

Contact Imprivata Services. Services will create a Cloud Tenant for your enterprise, and send a Welcome email with a link to the Imprivata Access Management Setup. Click the link in the email and follow the prompts to complete the secure connection.

Before You Begin

  • You need access to your Imprivata Admin Console.

  • Optional — a PNG, JPG, or GIF of your organization logo (200 x 100 pixels or smaller, max 100KB).

IMPORTANT:

Imprivata Access Management Setup supports several Imprivata products on the Imprivata Cloud Platform.

Some steps may require information from the Imprivata Admin Console or your identity provider (IdP) console.

Some steps may not be required for configuring Imprivata MDA.

Network Requirements

Ensure that your firewall policy is configured to allow communication between the Imprivata appliances and the production Imprivata Cloud Platform.

Add the following hosts to your firewall allowlist:

  • *.sys.imprivata.com

  • *.app.imprivata.com

NOTE:

For non-US regions, replace the .com with the appropriate domain suffix for your region, for example, *.sys.imprivata.uk.

IMPORTANT:

Configure Entra ID as the Identity Provider

Configure the Identity Provider

You can choose any SAML IdP to provide authentication (e.g., Okta, Ping ID). In the Cloud Tenant Setup Wizard, on the Identity provider: Connect page, configure the connection between your identity provider and Imprivata Access Management.

To configure your IdP:

  1. Open the Imprivata Cloud Tenant Setup wizard.

  2. If you have not already, agree to the Data Processing Addendum and enter information about your organization.

  3. Go to the Identity Provider Connect screen.

  4. Copy the Imprivata SP metadata URL and provide it to your IdP. When configuring the IdP's application:

    • Specify https://access.imprivata.com for the single sign-on URL.

    • Recommended: configure email address as the NameID format for user identity.

    • Recommended: configure Group ID (rather than group name) as the source attribute for group claims.

  5. Enter the SAML IdP metadata URL, and click Continue.

  6. Enter the SAML name/value pair that identifies users with administrative access, and click Continue.

  7. Click Go to Access URL: access.imprivata.com to test the authentication workflow to access Imprivata Access Management.

Enterprise Access Management User Policy Setup

  1. In the Imprivata Admin Console, go to the User policies page > Authentication tab > Desktop Access authentication section.

  2. Select Face recognition as a primary factor.

  3. Select a second factor for Face recognition:

    • No second (not recommended)

    • Imprivata PIN

    • Password

    • Proximity Card

    • BEST PRACTICE:

      For enhanced protection against sophisticated attacks, pair Face Authentication with a strong second factor like proximity card.

  4. Select another primary factor.

    For example, if users in this policy must use a different authentication method when Face recognition authentication is not available.

  5. Specify the grace period for authentication:

    • In EAM 25.3 and later, in the Authentication method options section > Face recognition, specify the grace period in the Grace period for second factor after face recognition boxes, up to 24 hours 59 minutes.

  6. Click Save.