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Along with the United States, Japan, Australia, France, Canada and other countries join India in announcing e- passports that have your information stored in a biometric chip. So an e- passport or a biometric electronic passport is an enhanced version of the conventional passport that holds digital technology to have an individual’s personal and biometric information stored securely.
Trusted and accepted globally, these e- passports have digital verification methods for the physical documents in hand. An e- passport has a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip that has general demographic information of the passport holder such as name, date of birth, passport number of sorts. It also has Biometric Facial Data for recognition and fingerprints for verification.
Security Features of an e- passport
One of the main reasons for adapting to e- passports is the security features that are imbibed to protect data and to conform global standards with digital encryption and authentication techniques, reports Times of India.
- Basic Access Control (BAC): Stops unauthenticated access to the chip by restricting scanning equipment to only authorized devices.
- Passive Authentication (PA): Authenticates stored information and identifies tampering.
- Extended Access Control (EAC): Ioduces an additional layer of security to biometric data such as fingerprints.
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Advantages of an e- passport
Security – One of the main advantages of a biometric passport is more security compared to conventional passports. Use of biometric information to facial recognition ensures assurance of the usage by the holder alone, securing it from identity theft and fraudulent issues.
Global Recognition – Biometric passports issued in countries around the world must be adhered to the rules charted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), thus can be used in airports and checkpoints around the world.
Streamlines immigration process – With the biometric demographic data and details, the immigration process is automated with contactless identity verification at immigration checkpoints. This in turn reduces the time and stress of commuters who are constantly travelling.
Other advantages include digitalisation of travel in India, enhancing national security and a simpler data induction and management than the prior ones.
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