Union Public Service Commission Developed Face Authentication Protocol; Used Successfully in the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2026 to Enhance Examination Integrity

• Face Authentication Protocol (FAP) is an indigenously developed biometric verification system rolled out by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to verify in real time that the candidate sitting the exam is the same person whose photograph was uploaded with the application form.
• First deployed at scale during the Civil Services & Indian Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination, 2026 held on 24 May 2026 across 2,072 venues in 83 cities.
• Significant for UPSC aspirants as a live case study of e-Governance + examination integrity + biometric tech, mapping to GS-II (governance) and GS-III (technology, internal security implications of impersonation).