# What is a liveness check?

> A liveness check is one of the controls that help distinguish presentation attacks during a biometric interaction.

Canonical: https://legichain.com/en/resources/what-is-a-liveness-check

A liveness check is one of the controls that help distinguish presentation attacks during a biometric interaction. It does not represent the whole of identity verification or protection against every attack.

## Active and passive approaches

Flows that ask the user for a specific movement and flows that need less interaction offer different experiences. User burden and control scope are assessed together.

## How to read a test claim

Check the standard, the test laboratory, the level, the product version and the test scope separately. Do not generalise a test result as a guarantee for every version or every type of deepfake.

## Failed results

Technical inadequacy, user experience and suspected attack should not be reduced to the same error message. Design a safe retry and, where needed, a path to human review.

## Sources

- [ISO/IEC 30107-3 Presentation Attack Detection confirmation letters](https://www.ibeta.com/iso-30107-3-presentation-attack-detection-confirmation-letters/)

_Sources were checked as part of the review dated 9 September 2026. Refer to the official text for current provisions._

**See the related product scope** → [Digital KYC](https://legichain.com/en/digital-kyc)

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Legichain — technology for identity verification, AML and blockchain screening. Contact: contact@legichain.com