Regional sites:
Specialized sites:
Article published in Keesing Journal of Documents & Identity, issue 30, 2009 - author: Mike Ellis
The International Civil
Aviation Organisation (ICAO) - and the NTWG1 in particular - first started work
on what is commonly referred to as the biometric or e-passport in 1998. Its
objective was to improve passport security by creating a stronger link between
the passport and its holder. At the time, the use of forged passports - by for
example, drug couriers and illegal immigrants - was increasing.
One of the most common forging techniques was photo substitution, often in
combination with data alteration (the date of birth, for example). At the same
time, cases of look-alike fraud - requiring no photo substitution at all - had
also risen.
As the NTWG started work on a biometric passport to establish a stronger link between the document and its holder, several issues needed to be resolved at an early stage. Which biometric should be used? Where should the biometric be stored? How should biometric data be read and authenticated?
There are currently more than 100 million e-passports in circulation, issued by over 50 countries. This number continues to grow every day, with 70 million new e-passports being issued every year. Almost all e-passports comply with ICAO standards. As a consequence, they are globally interoperable. A Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) system provides the certificates needed to check their authenticity. While the project was initially motivated by security considerations, several interesting facilitation schemes have emerged. These are based on facial, fingerprint or iris data and facilitate the efficient, high-speed processing of travellers at border control points.
Despite this success, some commentators have been critical of the e-passport. Most of this criticism is based on fiction, a misinterpretation of the facts, or a confusion of technologies. Some articles are written by hackers seeking recognition, others by security researchers working in pristine laboratories, a little divorced from reality. Journalists jump on the bandwagon, combine several false stories and report that the end of the world is fast approaching. There are also articles by activists writing for political gain. While we have no quarrel with other points of view, the twisting of technical data and communication of selective information is objectionable. Unfortunately though, a vast majority of the stories in newspapers and on the web are highly critical.
It is worth contrasting years of painstaking work by the TAG MRTD and the International Organisation for Standards (ISO), work that has resulted in the development of e-passport standards, with the shortterm publicity and hype circulated by some observers. This article looks to rebut some of the myths that surround the e-passport and that risk derailing the introduction of the more secure ID document unless debunked.
>> Read the 39 myths about e-passports
1 NTWG - the New Technologies Working Group of the Technical Advisory Group on Machine Readable Travel Documents (TAGMRTDs).
|
The future of eDocuments
|
|
Security in documents
|
What happens at Passport control? More...
Gemalto
contributes to more than 20 national ePassport programs.
Read our case
studies.
ID
documents are going high-tech, but are these solutions secure?
