The first phase of the United Kingdom biometric ID card system was unveiled to some citizens and politicians upset over the program, according to a ZDNet article. This first phase requires foreign nationals to get new ID cards with fingerprint data on them. The data will be stored indefinitely on a UK Identity and Passport […]

The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee has withheld funding for the US VISIT Exit program. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which runs the US VISIT program, wanted to have airlines collect the biometrics of foreigners exiting the country. But the airlines didn’t want to pay for it and the House is withholding DHS […]

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), one of the world’s leading providers of smart-card solutions, is opening a new development center in Pune, India. The center’s approximately 80 employees are developing products based on smart card technology for applications in mobile communication, electronic payment and public administration. Over the next few years, the center intends to double […]

SCM Microsystems Inc. announced that its eHealth200 BCS terminal has been approved by the Gematik – the German health care organization overseeing the implementation of Germany’s eHealth card program. Starting in October, SCM’s eHealth terminals will be available in significant volumes for general practitioners, pharmacists, hospitals and other health care providers for the start of […]

François-Charles Oberthur Fiduciaire (FCOF) is attempting to buy out its minority shareholders and take subsidiary Oberthur Technologies private, according to a company spokesperson. FCOF already owns 70% of Oberthur Technologies shares. FCOF is offering $9.81 per share, which would end up costing the company more than $294 million to take the smart card and security […]

SecuGen announced that its SDA04 fingerprint scanner has been certified by the FBI as compliant with FIPS 201 requirements. FIPS 201 places requirements on the image quality of fingerprint devices as established by the FBI’s Image Quality Specifications. The SDA04 is an OEM module consisting of a fingerprint sensor and processing board that can store […]

The Smart Card Alliance Identity Council has elected new officers and a steering committee and outlined activities for the upcoming year. This year Council projects include developing white papers that discuss how the U.S. government’s FIPS 201 standard can be used for enterprise identity programs and emergency response official credentialing programs and publishing case studies […]

UPEK Inc., a biometric fingerprint provider, announced the availability of its new TCEFx1 USB fingerprint module, which uses the company’s FIPS 201 certified TouchChip TCS1 fingerprint sensor. The UPEK TCEFx1 module is compact, simple to integrate, and enables for biometric authentication with ANSI 378 fingerprint templates stored on U.S. Government issued Personal Identity Verification cards. […]

Hypercom Corp. announced that its medCompact healthcare terminal has received e-Health Basic Command Set approval from Gematik, the German health care organization. Starting next month, the device will be available in volumes as part of the introduction of the country’s new health card. Germany’s e-Health card program has a planned deployment of more than 80 […]

Entrust Inc. demonstrated a successful public key infrastructure certificate exchange using the United Kingdom and Slovenia systems in a multi-country test environment during tests in Prague last week. The vendor confirmed that the security infrastructure for second-generation e-passports, based on Extended Access Control (EAC), is ready for global deployment. One of the key objectives of […]