- Email: [email protected]
Thales wins interim ID card contract
NEWS
IN BRIEF • Five months after proclaiming its independence, the Republic of Kosovo has begun to issue passports to its citizens. The contract to produce and supply 600,000 passports and 400,000 driver’s licenses was awarded to Giesecke & Devrient (G&D). G&D developed both the passport and the driver’s license in close cooperation with the Kosovar Ministry of Internal Affairs. Several technologies protect the ID documents against counterfeiting, including a Multi Laser Image (MLI) and kinegrams, which protect the data fields containing the holder’s personal data and allow immediate verification of the document’s authenticity. The first batch of new credit-cardsized driver’s licenses is scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of this year. • The new Xi-Sign 5000, a Home Chip and PIN security solution for e-banking and e-commerce has been unveiled by XIRING. The XiSign 5000 has been designed for banks’ highend customers with a sophisticated look and feel as well as luxury packaging. The solutions is designed to help banks looking to differentiate their online security solution to high-end customers in a similar way to how they offer different types of credit / debit card packages. In the United Kingdom, XIRING has now dispatched four million Home Chip and PIN card readers. The Xi-Sign 5000 is expected to be rolled out this month across Europe. • Idenizen Smartware, a technology solutions provider for the education market, has secured US$ 2.25 million of venture capital funding for its flagship product suite, SmartCampus. SmartCampus integrates all key activities of an institute on to a single, integrated software-enabled platform – from administration to student and faculty activities inclusive of registration, course administration, attendance, library automation and examinations. The funding, received from NEA-IndoUS Ventures, is expected to be used to fuel the company’s pan India growth plans and allow the smart card-enabled software solution to reach and service educational campuses and institutions nationwide. • The confidential financial data of a million UK customers has been found on a computer that was sold on online auction site eBay for £35.88. According to a report by the UK’s Daily Mail, a former employee at digital archiving firm Graphic Data sold the computer on eBay without erasing the hard drive. Financial information found on the computer included names, addresses, sort codes and account numbers, credit card numbers and security data such as mothers’ maiden names. Confidential data belonging to customers of American Express, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest was stored on the hard disk.
4
Card Technology Today
Transactions and Government Programs segments, with over half of the revenues coming from Asia. MULTOS was previously owned by Mastercard Worldwide through Mondex, and is promoted by the Maosco consortium, which includes Infineon, Samsung, Dai Nippon Printing and Thales in its membership. MULTOS was the first smartcard operating system to receive the highest security certification possible, ITSEC E6 High / EAL6+. “We will continue to develop and actively promote MULTOS in the payment and ID world,” commented Philippe Cambriel, Executive Vice President for Secure Transactions. Olivier Piou, Gemalto Chief Executive Officer, added: “This important bolt-on acquisition reinforces our software and services offering across Gemalto business lines. It will allow Gemalto to leverage its large installed base of intelligent devices with a commercially-demonstrated highest-security post-issuance activation service, which will be critical for example in mobile payment and NFC (Near Field Communication) applications.” Contact: Vincent Biraud at Gemalto, Tel: +33 6 08 48 33 23 , Email: [email protected]
id cards
UKBA to issue ID cards to foreign nationals
T
he UK Border Agency (UKBA) has confirmed that from 25 November 2008, it will begin issuing identity cards to foreign nationals applying for further leave to remain in the country. The first cards will be issued to migrants applying as a student, or as the husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried partner of someone holding permanent residence in the UK. The ID card for foreign nationals is the first part of the UK’s controversial national identity scheme, and will be rolled out on an incremental basis over the next three years to all foreign nationals. From November 2008, fingerprints and facial images will be captured at six centres around the UK as part of the process of making a decision about an individual’s right to be in the country. The new ID card provides evidence of the holder’s nationality, identity and status in the UK. According to UKBA, it will provide information that will help public agencies, employers and educational establishments more easily understand the migrant’s entitlements. It will also be an additional simple form of confirming identity and right to work and access public services for individuals who have entered the UK.”
Employers will be able to check the card visually, and UKBA says guidance on checking the validity of ID cards will be provided in September 2008. When a foreign national who has already been granted further leave to remain and is issued with an ID card, returns to the UK, they will be required to show their ID card at the border together with their national passport to confirm their immigration status. Checks at the border will include visual checks of the card, use of card readers and additional biometric checks. Following the issuing of ID cards to foreign nationals, the national ID scheme rollout will move to ID cards for workers in sensitive roles and locations, such as airports, in 2009. In 2010, voluntary ID cards will be offered to young people. In 2011-2012 voluntary ID cards will be offered to the rest of the British public.
Thales wins interim ID card contract Thales has won an £18 million, four-year contract to deliver an interim version of the UK’s national ID card scheme. The contract is the first, and probably the smallest, of the five deals to be awarded under a ‘framework contract’ established by the UK’s Identity & Passport Service (IPS). Thales will work with IPS to design, build, test and operate the technology that will deliver the National Identity Register and support the issuing of Identity Cards from the second half of 2009. As announced in May, another contractor – believed to be 3M SPSL – will be responsible for the manufacture of the physical cards. This contract award follows a procurement exercise using the NIS Strategic Supplier Group framework arrangement, awarded in May 2008. The five vendors within the scheme’s framework – Thales, CSC, EDS, Fujitsu and IBM – are obliged to bid for each of the contracts.
fraud
UK card fraud factory busted in police raid
T
he Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) – a special police unit that tackles cheque and card fraud crime in the UK – has raided a sophisticated counterfeit card factory in Birmingham. Detective Chief Inspector John Folan, who heads up the Unit, said: “These arrests are a significant
September 2008
IN BRIEF • Five months after proclaiming its independence, the Republic of Kosovo has begun to issue passports to its citizens. The contract to produce and supply 600,000 passports and 400,000 driver’s licenses was awarded to Giesecke & Devrient (G&D). G&D developed both the passport and the driver’s license in close cooperation with the Kosovar Ministry of Internal Affairs. Several technologies protect the ID documents against counterfeiting, including a Multi Laser Image (MLI) and kinegrams, which protect the data fields containing the holder’s personal data and allow immediate verification of the document’s authenticity. The first batch of new credit-cardsized driver’s licenses is scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of this year. • The new Xi-Sign 5000, a Home Chip and PIN security solution for e-banking and e-commerce has been unveiled by XIRING. The XiSign 5000 has been designed for banks’ highend customers with a sophisticated look and feel as well as luxury packaging. The solutions is designed to help banks looking to differentiate their online security solution to high-end customers in a similar way to how they offer different types of credit / debit card packages. In the United Kingdom, XIRING has now dispatched four million Home Chip and PIN card readers. The Xi-Sign 5000 is expected to be rolled out this month across Europe. • Idenizen Smartware, a technology solutions provider for the education market, has secured US$ 2.25 million of venture capital funding for its flagship product suite, SmartCampus. SmartCampus integrates all key activities of an institute on to a single, integrated software-enabled platform – from administration to student and faculty activities inclusive of registration, course administration, attendance, library automation and examinations. The funding, received from NEA-IndoUS Ventures, is expected to be used to fuel the company’s pan India growth plans and allow the smart card-enabled software solution to reach and service educational campuses and institutions nationwide. • The confidential financial data of a million UK customers has been found on a computer that was sold on online auction site eBay for £35.88. According to a report by the UK’s Daily Mail, a former employee at digital archiving firm Graphic Data sold the computer on eBay without erasing the hard drive. Financial information found on the computer included names, addresses, sort codes and account numbers, credit card numbers and security data such as mothers’ maiden names. Confidential data belonging to customers of American Express, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and NatWest was stored on the hard disk.
4
Card Technology Today
Transactions and Government Programs segments, with over half of the revenues coming from Asia. MULTOS was previously owned by Mastercard Worldwide through Mondex, and is promoted by the Maosco consortium, which includes Infineon, Samsung, Dai Nippon Printing and Thales in its membership. MULTOS was the first smartcard operating system to receive the highest security certification possible, ITSEC E6 High / EAL6+. “We will continue to develop and actively promote MULTOS in the payment and ID world,” commented Philippe Cambriel, Executive Vice President for Secure Transactions. Olivier Piou, Gemalto Chief Executive Officer, added: “This important bolt-on acquisition reinforces our software and services offering across Gemalto business lines. It will allow Gemalto to leverage its large installed base of intelligent devices with a commercially-demonstrated highest-security post-issuance activation service, which will be critical for example in mobile payment and NFC (Near Field Communication) applications.” Contact: Vincent Biraud at Gemalto, Tel: +33 6 08 48 33 23 , Email: [email protected]
id cards
UKBA to issue ID cards to foreign nationals
T
he UK Border Agency (UKBA) has confirmed that from 25 November 2008, it will begin issuing identity cards to foreign nationals applying for further leave to remain in the country. The first cards will be issued to migrants applying as a student, or as the husband, wife, civil partner or unmarried partner of someone holding permanent residence in the UK. The ID card for foreign nationals is the first part of the UK’s controversial national identity scheme, and will be rolled out on an incremental basis over the next three years to all foreign nationals. From November 2008, fingerprints and facial images will be captured at six centres around the UK as part of the process of making a decision about an individual’s right to be in the country. The new ID card provides evidence of the holder’s nationality, identity and status in the UK. According to UKBA, it will provide information that will help public agencies, employers and educational establishments more easily understand the migrant’s entitlements. It will also be an additional simple form of confirming identity and right to work and access public services for individuals who have entered the UK.”
Employers will be able to check the card visually, and UKBA says guidance on checking the validity of ID cards will be provided in September 2008. When a foreign national who has already been granted further leave to remain and is issued with an ID card, returns to the UK, they will be required to show their ID card at the border together with their national passport to confirm their immigration status. Checks at the border will include visual checks of the card, use of card readers and additional biometric checks. Following the issuing of ID cards to foreign nationals, the national ID scheme rollout will move to ID cards for workers in sensitive roles and locations, such as airports, in 2009. In 2010, voluntary ID cards will be offered to young people. In 2011-2012 voluntary ID cards will be offered to the rest of the British public.
Thales wins interim ID card contract Thales has won an £18 million, four-year contract to deliver an interim version of the UK’s national ID card scheme. The contract is the first, and probably the smallest, of the five deals to be awarded under a ‘framework contract’ established by the UK’s Identity & Passport Service (IPS). Thales will work with IPS to design, build, test and operate the technology that will deliver the National Identity Register and support the issuing of Identity Cards from the second half of 2009. As announced in May, another contractor – believed to be 3M SPSL – will be responsible for the manufacture of the physical cards. This contract award follows a procurement exercise using the NIS Strategic Supplier Group framework arrangement, awarded in May 2008. The five vendors within the scheme’s framework – Thales, CSC, EDS, Fujitsu and IBM – are obliged to bid for each of the contracts.
fraud
UK card fraud factory busted in police raid
T
he Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit (DCPCU) – a special police unit that tackles cheque and card fraud crime in the UK – has raided a sophisticated counterfeit card factory in Birmingham. Detective Chief Inspector John Folan, who heads up the Unit, said: “These arrests are a significant
September 2008