Retailers are more aware of mobile contactless payments then they were a year ago and 52% say they are exploring the use of such payments for improving payment seamlessness and customer loyalty. Aberdeen, a Harte-Hanks Company based in Boston, surveyed 180 companies to outline the implications and trends related to proximity mobile payments. According to […]

TSA considers biometric ACIS program but airports are not convinced By Zack Martin, Editor The Transportation Security Administration wants airports across the country to issue and use an interoperable credential. If a flight attendant at Chicago O’Hare International Airport was on a crew flying in and out of Atlanta’s Hartsfield Airport, the ID card and […]

By Andy Williams, Contributing Editor Oberthur Technologies may just be the ‘youngest old company’ in the card business. Sound like a contradiction? Consider this, it was founded in the mid-1800s but it was just twenty years ago that its first product was produced. For 150 years, the company ran paper through printing presses. Today it […]

Hirsch Electronics, a supplier of physical access control systems, has signed a global distribution agreement with SCM Microsystems, a supplier of smart card readers, to provide SCM’s Physical Access Control Terminals series physical access readers to the open market. The SCM readers are designed specifically for Department of Defense sites. But with more agencies deploying […]

The Smart Card Alliance released a white paper stating that enterprises should use the FIPS 201 standard when deploying identity credentials. “This standard provides an identity management framework that enterprises should regard as a best practice in the design and implementation of their own identity management programs,” the white paper states. Using the FIPS 201 […]

Hackers from the Dutch Radboud University Nijmegen gave a presentation on how to break the encryption with some older contactless smart cards, according to a news report on InfoWorld.com. The researchers presented their findings during the Esorics security conference in Malaga, Spain. In a paper released detailing the research, the hackers say they discovered the […]

Datastrip, a developer of biometric technologies, Codebench, a developer of security software and AMAG Technology, a developer of security management technology, have partnered to create a simple way for agencies to validate credentials for PIV and TWIC at facilities already employing AMAG’s Symmetry Security Management System (SMS). The new system sees Datastrip’s DSV2 TURBO fingerprint […]

The government of Sri Lanka has announced plans for a program to issue electronic identification cards to around 250,000 fishermen working the oceans surrounding the island nation. The ID cards will incorporate RFID technology, enabling the Sri Lankan navy to locate fisherman at sea. In addition to the tracking capabilities created by the new ID […]

Switzerland’s citizens are set to vote on whether or not they want passports and ID cards embedded with chips containing biometric information, according to a Swiss Info article. This past March the Swiss parliament approved a country-wide implementation of biometric passports and ID cards for their citizens, however, the program’s opponents collected 55,000 signatures to […]

Following a seven year trial for the technology, Australia is ready to being full implementation of facial recognition checkpoints for border control at their airports called SmartGate, according to a ZDNet article. The system has already been implemented at Qantas, Brisbane, Cairns and Melbourne for Australians with biometric chip embedded e-passports and is expected to […]