Entrust Technology, Expertise Called on for Malaysian ePassport Project

DALLAS, May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Strengthening its position as a global leader of ePassport security, Entrust Inc. will provide proven, PKI-based ePassport technology to help the Malaysian government (Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia) migrate to the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) Basic Access Control (BAC) standard.

"Malaysia has always prided itself on being at the forefront of border security," said Encik Ibrahim Abdullah, Director of Security and Passport, Jabatan Imigresen. "At the core of this project, we sought a solution that would enable us to align with ICAO BAC standards, but also enable straightforward migration to next-generation Extended Access Control (EAC) capabilities."

Entrust is the only ePassport technology vendor that currently provides a commercial off-the-shelf, dual-rooted solution that allows for a straightforward upgrade from BAC to the more advanced EAC standard. Based on Entrust's trusted public key infrastructure (PKI) technology, Entrust ePassport security solutions enable a true "point-and-click" PKI system for strong border control and authentication of identities and biometric datasets on today's machine-readable travel documents (MRTDs).

"Secure border initiatives represents one of the most critical security undertakings for any government," said Entrust President and CEO Bill Conner. "The Malaysian government recognizes the value in not only deploying BAC ePassports, but doing so via a solution that will enable them to seamlessly adapt the EAC scheme when the time is right."

Facilitated by one of Malaysia's authorized certification authorities (CA), Digicert enables the Entrust ePassport solution to provide document-signing capabilities at the time a Malaysian ePassport is issued. Digicert is a leading local CA and their signed documents are legally recognized under Malaysian law.

In order to facilitate interoperability across countries, the ICAO has set global standards for ePassports. Since the ePassport contains sensitive personal information, the security and integrity of the ePassport are critical. As a result, two ePassport standards — BAC and EAC — help migrate countries from traditional paper-based travel documents.

Created to mitigate passport forgery, first-generation ePassports use a BAC RFID chip containing a simple biometric — usually a digitized photo of the individual — along with the digitized identity information of an individual duplicated on the paper document. Entrust provides the digital signature on BAC ePassports that is designed to help prevent a cloned or modified passport, when it is properly processed, from being used to illegally cross a border.

The second generation of ePassports, the EAC standard allows governments to leverage a stronger biometric that makes impersonation of the legitimate document-holder more difficult. The use of biometrics — typically a digitized fingerprint or iris scan — establishes a much stronger binding between the individual and the travel document. To safeguard the biometric data, EAC-enabled ePassports enforce strong mutual authentication between the chip and the reader before biometric data is released. The combination of BAC and EAC mechanisms establishes a strong defense to mitigate the threats of forgery and impersonation.

Entrust has been a trusted advisor to many countries as they pursue ePassport projects. The technology is currently in production use in a number of countries issuing a high volume of ePassports, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Singapore, Ireland, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, New Zealand, Canada and Finland.

About Entrust

Entrust provides identity-based security solutions that empower enterprises, consumers, citizens and Web sites in more than 4,000 organizations spanning 60 countries. Entrust's identity-based approach offers the right balance between affordability, expertise and service. For strong authentication, fraud detection, digital certificates, SSL and PKI, call 888-690-2424, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.entrust.com.

Entrust is a registered trademark of Entrust, Inc. in the United States and certain other countries. In Canada, Entrust is a registered trademark of Entrust Limited. All Entrust product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Entrust, Inc. or Entrust Limited. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Entrust