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Biometric bytes
BIOMETRIC BYTES
Biometric Bytes Breaking news from the biometrics industry
Mybi to distribute 1m biometric smart cards Mybi, one of the largest public transportation system and e-currency infrastructure providers in South Korea, has entered into an agreement with Samsung SDS and e-Smart Korea, a wholly owned subsidiary of e-Smart Technologies, to distribute a multiapplication e-Currency biometric smart card. The agreement calls for the distribution of more than 1 million Mybi-eSmart Cards in 10 major Korean cities currently serviced by Mybi’s e-Currency card. The new card will integrate Mybi’s e-Currency product into e-Smart’s Super Smart Card. The new smart card will be a secure and convenient method of payment for a number of financial transactions, including merchants, internet malls, public transportation and vending machines. The project also calls for e-Smart and Samsung to implement a medical portal site for 10 targeted hospitals in Busan City, Korea, by mid-2005 for payment of hospital, pharmacy, medical and insurance fees. In a separate deal e-Smart Technologies announced that it recently entered into a cooperation agreement with Olcsan Cad and Daewoo International Corporation with the goal of providing e-Smart’s Biometric Verification Security System and Super Smartcard as a city smart card and government smart card in Turkey, including a National ID card. European passports get two biometrics Fingerprint and facial images are to become mandatory features in future European Union passports. Following the adoption of a new regulation by the Council of the European Union, EU member states will have 18 months (from December 2004) to implement facial images and three years to implement fingerprint images. Of the EU member states, the UK and Ireland have the option to opt out, while Denmark will have six months to consider the proposals before making a decision. The EU deadlines mean that Member States will not necessarily meet the USA’s 26 October, 2005, deadline for biometric passport issuance to begin. The EU will be looking to the USA for a further extension to this deadline, therefore, to
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ensure its citizens can retain their current visafree travel status. The storing of digital fingerprint images within the passport is likely to prove controversial, especially considering that such a move goes beyond the necessary requirements established by ICAO standards, which specify a facial image as mandatory and fingerprint or iris images as optional. In passing the regulation, the Council ignored a recent European Parliament resolution, which opted for facial information only to be included in the passport. Privacy groups are also vehemently opposed to such a move. Despite the objections, however, the passing of the regulation by the Council means that there is now no question that fingerprint biometrics will be included. Seafarer ID sets sail Following the completion of interoperability tests, the International Labour Office (ILO) has announced that a new biometric system for issuing secure identity documents to the world’s 1.2 million seafarers is ready for implementation. The system is mandated through Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention, 2003 (No. 185) and is reportedly the first internationally binding instrument for an identification system. The document will contain fingerprint-based biometric information and is designed to be globally interoperable. To enable interoperability, in March 2004 the ILO Governing Body adopted a single standard with specifications to be followed in national systems and products for generating the biometric representation of fingerprints on the SID, and for verifying that the seafarer’s fingerprint corresponds to the fingerprint on the SID. The ILO recently completed a six-week test involving 126 volunteer seafarers on the M.V. Crystal Harmony, a vessel operated by Crystal Cruises. The testing exercise involved seven biometric products submitted by various manufacturers. The ILO found that two of them met the requirement of global interoperability. Convention No. 185 was adopted to replace the Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention No.
108 (1958), which was ratified by 61 ILO Member States representing 60.7% of the world’s fleet. The new instrument will come into force in February 2005. TSA starts TWIC phase III The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the USA has begun testing the technology and business processes involved in the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) programme. The trial will gradually expand to 34 sites in six states and will last seven months. Up to 200,000 workers from maritime, rail, aviation and ground modes of transportation are expected to participate. The TWIC is a tamper-resistant credential that contains biometric information about the holder that is designed to render the card useless to anyone other than the rightful owner. Using the biometric data, each transportation facility can verify the identity of a worker and prevent unauthorised individuals from accessing secure areas. When fully implemented, an estimated six million credentials may be issued and maintained for transportation employees who have unescorted access to secure locations within transportation facilities. The TSA awarded systems integrator BearingPoint the US$12 million contract for the prototype phase just over three months ago. BearingPoint in turn has named its primary subcontractors on the project, including Anteon International Corporation, Lockheed Martin and Unisys Corp. Additional team members on the BearingPoint team include Daon, Dell, Gemplus International, LexisNexis, Microsoft Corporation, Saflink Corporation and Senture. Consumers prepared to pay for biometrics A new survey has shown that a high proportion of US consumers would be willing to pay a premium to add fingerprintbased technology to their electronic devices if it would make their lives easier and more secure. The findings showed that 63% of consumers would pay extra to add fingerprint verification to their PCs and notebook computers, while 71% would pay more to have this feature added to their mobile phones. Most consumers said they would use the technology to replace their PC and Internet passwords, as well as to help transform their mobile phones into their personal wallets to conduct m-commerce and wireless banking. It is estimated that more than four million biometric-enabled mobile phones, PCs, laptops and peripherals are already in use. The AuthenTec-sponsored telephone survey was conducted with 2,049 respondents throughout the USA by independent research firm StrategyOne during November 2004.
Card Technology Today January 2005
Biometric Bytes Breaking news from the biometrics industry
Mybi to distribute 1m biometric smart cards Mybi, one of the largest public transportation system and e-currency infrastructure providers in South Korea, has entered into an agreement with Samsung SDS and e-Smart Korea, a wholly owned subsidiary of e-Smart Technologies, to distribute a multiapplication e-Currency biometric smart card. The agreement calls for the distribution of more than 1 million Mybi-eSmart Cards in 10 major Korean cities currently serviced by Mybi’s e-Currency card. The new card will integrate Mybi’s e-Currency product into e-Smart’s Super Smart Card. The new smart card will be a secure and convenient method of payment for a number of financial transactions, including merchants, internet malls, public transportation and vending machines. The project also calls for e-Smart and Samsung to implement a medical portal site for 10 targeted hospitals in Busan City, Korea, by mid-2005 for payment of hospital, pharmacy, medical and insurance fees. In a separate deal e-Smart Technologies announced that it recently entered into a cooperation agreement with Olcsan Cad and Daewoo International Corporation with the goal of providing e-Smart’s Biometric Verification Security System and Super Smartcard as a city smart card and government smart card in Turkey, including a National ID card. European passports get two biometrics Fingerprint and facial images are to become mandatory features in future European Union passports. Following the adoption of a new regulation by the Council of the European Union, EU member states will have 18 months (from December 2004) to implement facial images and three years to implement fingerprint images. Of the EU member states, the UK and Ireland have the option to opt out, while Denmark will have six months to consider the proposals before making a decision. The EU deadlines mean that Member States will not necessarily meet the USA’s 26 October, 2005, deadline for biometric passport issuance to begin. The EU will be looking to the USA for a further extension to this deadline, therefore, to
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ensure its citizens can retain their current visafree travel status. The storing of digital fingerprint images within the passport is likely to prove controversial, especially considering that such a move goes beyond the necessary requirements established by ICAO standards, which specify a facial image as mandatory and fingerprint or iris images as optional. In passing the regulation, the Council ignored a recent European Parliament resolution, which opted for facial information only to be included in the passport. Privacy groups are also vehemently opposed to such a move. Despite the objections, however, the passing of the regulation by the Council means that there is now no question that fingerprint biometrics will be included. Seafarer ID sets sail Following the completion of interoperability tests, the International Labour Office (ILO) has announced that a new biometric system for issuing secure identity documents to the world’s 1.2 million seafarers is ready for implementation. The system is mandated through Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention, 2003 (No. 185) and is reportedly the first internationally binding instrument for an identification system. The document will contain fingerprint-based biometric information and is designed to be globally interoperable. To enable interoperability, in March 2004 the ILO Governing Body adopted a single standard with specifications to be followed in national systems and products for generating the biometric representation of fingerprints on the SID, and for verifying that the seafarer’s fingerprint corresponds to the fingerprint on the SID. The ILO recently completed a six-week test involving 126 volunteer seafarers on the M.V. Crystal Harmony, a vessel operated by Crystal Cruises. The testing exercise involved seven biometric products submitted by various manufacturers. The ILO found that two of them met the requirement of global interoperability. Convention No. 185 was adopted to replace the Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention No.
108 (1958), which was ratified by 61 ILO Member States representing 60.7% of the world’s fleet. The new instrument will come into force in February 2005. TSA starts TWIC phase III The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the USA has begun testing the technology and business processes involved in the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) programme. The trial will gradually expand to 34 sites in six states and will last seven months. Up to 200,000 workers from maritime, rail, aviation and ground modes of transportation are expected to participate. The TWIC is a tamper-resistant credential that contains biometric information about the holder that is designed to render the card useless to anyone other than the rightful owner. Using the biometric data, each transportation facility can verify the identity of a worker and prevent unauthorised individuals from accessing secure areas. When fully implemented, an estimated six million credentials may be issued and maintained for transportation employees who have unescorted access to secure locations within transportation facilities. The TSA awarded systems integrator BearingPoint the US$12 million contract for the prototype phase just over three months ago. BearingPoint in turn has named its primary subcontractors on the project, including Anteon International Corporation, Lockheed Martin and Unisys Corp. Additional team members on the BearingPoint team include Daon, Dell, Gemplus International, LexisNexis, Microsoft Corporation, Saflink Corporation and Senture. Consumers prepared to pay for biometrics A new survey has shown that a high proportion of US consumers would be willing to pay a premium to add fingerprintbased technology to their electronic devices if it would make their lives easier and more secure. The findings showed that 63% of consumers would pay extra to add fingerprint verification to their PCs and notebook computers, while 71% would pay more to have this feature added to their mobile phones. Most consumers said they would use the technology to replace their PC and Internet passwords, as well as to help transform their mobile phones into their personal wallets to conduct m-commerce and wireless banking. It is estimated that more than four million biometric-enabled mobile phones, PCs, laptops and peripherals are already in use. The AuthenTec-sponsored telephone survey was conducted with 2,049 respondents throughout the USA by independent research firm StrategyOne during November 2004.
Card Technology Today January 2005