Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

Slovenia going with second gen e-passports

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Slovenia is going to deploy extended access control with its second generation electronic passport. Entrust Inc. will work with the country to implement the new security in the travel document.

Slovenia’s second-generation e-passport, which will be integrated by technology partner S&T, represent a components of the country’s citizen-centric e-government. Their e-government services enable secure time-stamping capabilities and helps provide secure applications for tax filing, vehicle registration, online establishment of companies, birth and marriage certificate requests, change of address certifications and other services.


Many countries are making the switch to second generation e-passports. European Union member countries will be required to add biometric data to machine-readable travel documents with the information protected through the EAC scheme by June 2009.

The second generation of ePassports, based on the extended access control (EAC) standard, enables governments to use a stronger biometric that is more difficult to impersonate on the contactless smart card chip, typically a fingerprint or iris scan. EAC ePassports also require the encryption of the chip contents, so even if a criminal has the ability to impersonate the enhanced biometric, access to the chip contents is denied with encryption.

Entrust provides security for the e-passports of a number of governments in the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Singapore, Taiwan and New Zealand. [end] 

After a nearly three-year delay, the Algerian government has finally launched its biometric passport program.

Magharebia reports that the biometric passports, which contain a contactless smart card chip that holds a digitized photo, fingerprints and signature, were supposed to be released in 2009. But the documents were delayed due to complexities with the operation of the project and the need to thoroughly research and analyze other countries’ experiences with biometric passports.

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The U.S. government has settled an infringement case with Leighton Technologies by agreeing to license its smart cards.

Leighton Technologies, a subsidiary of General Patent, filed a case against the federal government in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in January 2010. Leighton alleged that 54 federal agencies used its six smart card patents without authorization. Leighton’s technology was also used in e-passports.

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IMS Research has launched a new report predicting that within five years 90% of passport holders will be using e-passports with integrated smart card IC chips.

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Kosovo has begun issuing new biometric passports powered by chip technology from Switzerland’s Trüb AG.

The Balkan nation of 1.7 million has contracted the Austrian State Printing House (OeSD) to manufacture the new passport booklets and integrate Trüb’s the polycarbonate film datapages, which contain an ICAO-compliant antenna and chip module that stores the document holder’s personal data, a facial image and two fingerprints.

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In an effort to streamline passenger security, Jakarta, Indonesia’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport has opened the country’s first biometric immigration gate.

Fingerprint biometric identification provider BIO-key International, Inc. and Oakwell Engineering Limited partnered to create the new gate, designed for use by passengers with electronic passports. Passengers submit their e-passports and authenticate with a fingerprint.

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The Emirates Identity Authority (EIDA) announced that the registration of Emirati newborns is now mandatory for electronic passports (e-passport) and ID cards, according to ArabianBusiness.com.

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