The high incidence of South African passport and ID-document fraud uncovered by investigators both locally and abroad has focused attention on security measures that can be incorporated into these documents to safeguard their authenticity and the manner in which they are viewed, and the bearers treated, by authorities the world over.
Marketed in South Africa by Siemens Components, a business unit of Siemens Southern Africa, Infineon Technologies is introducing new chip card controllers for improved security of electronic identity cards and passports, with the first global tests on these documents beginning later this year.
Steffan Rusche of Siemens Components, says that with double the storage capacity and state-of-the-art security features, Infineon's chips are ideal for use in documents requiring foolproof security, guaranteeing their integrity and authenticity.
"One of the biggest problems facing the authorities today is how to safeguard data and protect against identity theft," says Rusche. "With the Infineon-enabled chips, electronic ID cards and passports will be much more secure than the current ID cards and passports available today."
The most important requirement for identification documents is that all data is stored in a reliable form, and as securely as possible.
"Infineon's security controllers contain more than 50 individual security mechanisms built into the chip, a measure that ensures stored data enjoys the best possible protection against manipulation and improper use," he says.
Rusche says that electronic ID cards can be used for a variety of purposes, including a multi-application card that could include a personal identity card, a driver's licence, a firearm licence, a credit card, or even a monthly commuter ticket for urban transportation systems.
"Especially designed for electronic ID cards, Infineon's SLE66CLX640P security chip keeps these applications and their associated data records securely separate from each other," he says. "It also allows for graduated access controls, so that only authorised individuals may access or modify the data, so the holder need not worry that the traffic officer, for instance, could access their credit card details."
The SLE66CLX640P designed for use in the ID cards of the future performs the contactless transfer of data up to a distance of around 10 cm from the reader or via electrical contacts directly to the reader. The SLE66CLX641P, on the other hand, which could be integrated into the laminated side of the electronic passport, along with the holder's personal details, has a purely contactless interface.
Rusche says that the SLE66CLX641P controller is specifically designed for integration into electronic passports, meeting the provisions of the global Standard 9303-1 issued by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which has laid down framework standards for globally valid travel documents for 188 countries.
"In line with the ICAO requirements for electronic travel documents, the encrypted data on both chips includes not just the details currently printed on ID papers, such as name, date of birth and period of validity, but also a number of biometric features - characteristics specific to the individual - which can be the face, the prints of one or more fingers, the image of the holder's iris or a combination of these," he says.
Until now, chip cards have been designed for a maximum useful lifetime of five years, whereas electronic ID cards and passports are generally valid for 10 years. Infineon has aimed its new controllers at precisely these requirements. Infineon says its chips are also the only products in the world capable of supporting both of the contactless interface formats that dominate the marketplace, ISO/IEC 14443 Type A and Type B, which differ in the data transmission protocols they employ. This means that cards or passes containing Infineon's security controller can be used worldwide, regardless of the reader infrastructure already installed or being set up.
The SLE66CLX640P and SLE66CLX641P security chips belong to Infineon's 66Plus family of 16-bit chip card controllers that meet the most exacting security requirements, with the chip card controllers offering a number of different physical protection functions.
"These include an active shield feature and encryption functionality as well as the sector's most effective protection to date against so-called DPA/SPA or differential power analysis/simple power analysis attacks, which involve hackers attempting to read the information off the chip by applying different voltages to it," says Rusche, adding that the security controllers calculate symmetrical algorithms such as Data Encryption Standard (DES) and Triple-DES, and offer a powerful crypto-coprocessor, which permits the calculation of asymmetrical algorithms like RSA and elliptical curves.
"Tens of millions of examples of the forerunners to the two chips being launched now are already in use in ID projects, including electronic ID cards in Macao, Hong Kong, Oman, Italy and the US Department of Defense, as well as the national healthcare cards in Taiwan and Italy," he concludes.
For more information contact Steffan Rusche, Siemens Components, +27 (0)11 652 2710, solutions@siemens.co.za
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