Benefits of an Electronic Passport While Traveling

Nov 30
08:20

2012

Robert Siciliano

Robert Siciliano

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An Electronic Passport is the same as a traditional passport with the addition of small integrated circuit (or “chip”) embedded in the back cover.

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With the U.S. requiring ePassports or Visas from visitors as standard,Benefits of an Electronic Passport While Traveling Articles and the European Union’s push for electronic travel documents, authorities are now requiring citizens to have new, safe ID documents, giving themselves and their citizens the peace of mind they need.

An Electronic Passport is the same as a traditional passport with the addition of a small integrated circuit (or “chip”) embedded in the back cover. The chip stores the same data visually displayed on the data page of the passport; a biometric identifier in the form of a digital image of the passport photograph, which will facilitate the use of face recognition technology at ports-of-entry, the unique chip identification number and a digital signature to protect the stored data from alteration.

The Electronic Passport facilitates travel by allowing automated identity verification, faster immigration inspections and greater border protection and security.

The Electronic Passport is designed to function for the passport’s full validity period under normal use.

The special features of an Electronic Passport are that it securely stores biographical information and digital image that are identical to the information that is visually displayed in the passport. And the contactless chip technology that allows the information stored in an Electronic Passport to be read by special chip readers at a close distance and the digital signature technology that is used to verify the authenticity of the data stored on the chip. This technology is commonly used in credit cards and other secure documents using integrated circuits or chips.

Robert Siciliano, personal security expert contributor toJust Ask Gemalto and author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Mobile was Hacked! . Disclosures