U.S. State Department Launches e-Passports, Rejects Security Concerns

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

Anone want to start a pool on how long it will take before
somoen figures out a way to surreptitiously snarf the data
off these things?

Via GCN.com.

[snip]

The State Department started pilot production of electronic passports earlier this month and plans to roll out 
e-passports for the general public this summer, officials said.

The senior official in charge of the project also said that technical issues raised recently about e-passport security 
would not prevent the general distribution of the documents.

Frank Moss, deputy assistant secretary of State for consular affairs, said in an interview this morning that the 
department is using e-passport technology provided by Infineon Technologies North America Corp. of San Jose, Calif.

Moss said Infineon’s components for the e-passport have been approved by National Institute of Standards and Technology 
testing. The company provides contactless chip radio-frequency identification device technology that stores 
biographical data in machine readable form.

Infineon’s chip and a small antenna are embedded in the passport cover, which also includes a metal shield to prevent 
eavesdropping on data flowing from the passport to the reading machine.

[snip]

Article here:
http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/38340-1.html

State Dept. page on the design:
http://travel.state.gov/passport/eppt/eppt_2501.html

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg () netzero net or fergdawg () sbcglobal net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/


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