Science Media Partners Ltd. announces ePassport interoperability testing at SDW 2013
Science Media Partners Ltd., the organizer of the security document conference and exhibition SDW 2013, has just announced that the next phase of global ePassport interoperability testing — SDW InterOp 2013 — is set to take place at a separate event to be held alongside the SDW conference on May 21-23 in London.
Interoperability tests will be focused on the new Supplemental Access Control mechanism, scheduled to be implemented on travel documents for most countries within the European Union after December 2014. These tests are sponsored by NXP. The Supplemental Access Control security mechanism was specified in a Technical Report by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
To perform the technical aspects of the tests, Science Media Partners will tap the services of secunet Security Networks AG. In 2006, secunet acted as the technical lead in the 2006 Berlin ePassport interoperability tests.
Though the existing Basic Access Control specification is still seen as adequate for protecting data inside an ePassport chip, the randomness of the encryption key is not anticipated to be future-proofed against modern attacks.
InterOp 2013 is open to document providers supporting SAC, document verification system providers and interested observers. Document conformity and cross-over testing takes place on May 22 and will be followed by a private SAC expert workshop.
“We are proud to host the next in the series of ePassport interoperability test, Mark Lockie, SDW 2013 event director said. “SAC will bring benefits to citizens and authorities by improving security levels. Before roll out can start, however, a great deal of work needs to be done to ensure a smooth implementation. This testing event will provide a significant opportunity for document producers, verification system providers and governments to benchmark the extent to which their efforts towards conformity and interoperability have been reached.”
For more information, visit the InterOp 2013 website: http://www.sdw2013.com/interop2013/
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