Oracle announced the availability of the first components of Oracle Identity Management 11g including Oracle Platform Security Services, Oracle Internet Directory 11g, Oracle Virtual Directory 11g, and Oracle Identity Federation 11g.

Oracle Platform Security Services (OPSS), a new layer for security services available through Oracle Fusion Middleware, delivers a Service-Oriented Security foundation. As a security framework Oracle Platform Security Services enables developers to build security into their applications and deploy them into a centralized identity management framework.

Gemalto has been tapped by InterSwitch, a Nigerian provider of secure electronic payment solutions, to deploy its Dexxis Instant Issuance process to speed up the country’s EMV migration of 30 million mag stripe cards.

The Gemalto solution enables InterSwitch’s 25 bank members to do on-the-spot personalization and delivery of chip cards to their customers and directly at their branches. With Dexxis Instant Issuance, banking customers leave the branch with their card in hand and can start using it immediately, compared to an average two weeks’ wait time with conventional issuance.

As part of the contract, Gemalto is supplying the software that allows InterSwitch to offer the instant issuance service to its members.  

UK Home Office Secretary Alan Johnson announced that the identity scheme put in place would be voluntary for citizens. The only individuals forced to apply for the cards would be foreign national living in the UK, 50,000 of these cards have already been issued.

The IDs also will no longer be mandatory for airport workers. Under the new proposals, ID cards will be voluntary for workers at Manchester and London City airports. Workers will continue to be encouraged to get an ID card, which they can do for free, as it makes it easier for employers to carry out background checks and issue passes.  

The March meeting of the influential Government Smart Card Interagency Advisory Board (IAB) was recently held in Washington D.C. FIPS201.com was on hand to cover the event and has provided, as a service to the IAB and the smart card community, an audio recording of the presentations. Click on the link below to access a list of audio and accompanying PowerPoint slides (in pdf format).

Visit FIPS201.com to hear the presentations and view the slides.  

Immigration officials from Kyoto, Japan have reported that their biometric system located at the Narita International Airport has detected four individuals since the system’s installation in January that tried to fool the system, according to a Japan Times Online article.

The four who were caught had attempted to alter their fingerprints through surgical removal and stitching or filed down, but were subsequently discovered when secondary facial checks were taken when fingerprint samples were impossible.

The four members of the Smart Payment Association account for “the vast majority of the payment smart cards market,” more than 580 million, according to a survey released by the association.

That figure corresponds to a 39% year-on-year growth spurred by EMV migration, the survey points out. The organization was founded in 2004 by Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient and Oberthur Technologies to promote the use of smart cards for payment. It has since picked up a fourth member, Sagem Orga.

German smart card provider Multicard has launched a new contactless and dual interface microcontroller application that can combine different high-frequency contactless technologies on a single IC. The new card uses a single processor for both a LEGIC applet and the MIFARE technology from NXP to enable the use of a single identification credential in different environments, including legacy installations.

In a post-9/11 world getting through airport lines was a hassle. Removing shoes, laptops, coats all took time and often lead to lengthy lines.

One solution was to set up a service where individuals would pay a fee, provide information, undergo a background check and receive expedited processing through those security lines. The idea was popular, especially in Congress which held hearings on the programs that came to be known as registered traveler.

After undergoing background checks, travelers were issued smart cards that contained fingerprint and iris biometrics. These cards were used to verify identity before being allowed past security.

The chairman of the European Payments Council says many European banks may look at banning less secure mag-stripe credit and debit cards once the transition to the EMV standard, probably by 2011, is complete, the American Banker reports.

“My feeling is, although it has not yet been decided, the [council] will take a decision in 2011, maybe 2010, to only use chip cards,” said Gerard Hartsink during his presentation last week at the Contactless Cards and Payments conference in London.

Were such a move implemented, visitors from countries without EMV cards, such as the U.S. could face problems.

Read more here.  

by Stephen Price-Francis, vice president of marketing, LaserCard Corporation

Executive Summary

In July 2005, Costa Rica passed an immigration reform act to serve as a key instrument for fighting corruption and regularizing the status of a growing migrant population. In accordance with this legislation, the DGME (Department of Immigration) determined that an advanced ID credential system was critical to improving controls on illegal activities, clamping down on the cross-border trafficking of individuals, and protecting victims of forced migration or other abuse.

While many governments have undertaken large-scale ID projects, the Costa Rica case is notable in that quality identity documentation was explicitly considered, and ultimately deployed, as a key element in protecting the human rights of the country’s foreign residents.

Costa Rica’s rapidly developing economy, modern democracy and strong social security infrastructure represent a strong attraction for economic migrants in a region where wealth and opportunity are concentrated in a few nations. With a population of just more than four million, Costa Rica is host to some 200,000 legal foreign residents. Illegal migrant workers also number in the hundreds of thousands, and consist mainly of low-skilled workers from Nicaragua.