Cybertrust wins component of e-Passport contract

Stan Beer
Friday, 03 December 2004 07:30

IT Industry - Development

Security solutions provider, Cybertrust, has won a Federal Government contract for the public key infrastructure technology component of the pilot for the new Australian ePassport. Cybertrust's Australian team will also tender for a number of international ePassport contracts.

The Australian ePassport was among the first in the world to comply with the standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which sets standards for travel documents. Cybertrust was selected by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to provide Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology to protect the biometric data on the passport.

One of the driving forces behind the move to biometric passports is the deadline set by the United States of October 2005, when it will become compulsory for all travellers from countries that are part of the US visa waiver program to have biometric identifiers in their passports.

PKI integrates digital certificates, public-key cryptography and certificate authorities into a total security architecture. For the Australian ePassport, the biographical information and digital photograph of a document holder will be digitally signed with the government's unique "key" and placed onto a chip on the passport. Once this is done, that information cannot be altered without tampering being evident.

Under the new scheme, customs staff at the airport will use special readers to read the secure data object created by Cybertrust from the passport chip. This signature will then be compared with the one held securely in the ICAO's central directory. If it matches and visual comparisons, combined with checks through facial recognition technology, verify the document holder's identity, the person will be allowed to progress through that port of entry.

"This promises to be one of the largest scale biometric projects ever undertaken, and is being driven by the realisation that issues of border security and identity management are of critical importance," said Paul O'Rourke, chief executive Cybertrust Asia Pacific.

There are currently 27 countries involved in the US visa-waiver scheme, including Australia. There are also a number of countries not involved in the scheme that are developing their own ePassports to ensure that they are not left behind.