Secunet PKI solution to authenticate Iceland electronic travel documents

Secunet announced that electronic travel documents in Iceland will be authenticated using the company’s Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in the fourth quarter.

The move follows Secunet being awarded a contract in May to provide automatic border control system (eGates) to Iceland, as part of a co-operation between Keflavik airport operator Isavia, the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police and the Sudurnes district police.

Secunet’s PKI system and electronic identity document will enable border controls at airports to be conducted more efficiently.

Highly secure, certificate-based authentication solutions are used to efficiently check the authenticity of documents, as well as for preventing manipulation and unauthorized access.

A PKI is required to create and manage certificates, and Iceland will work with the Secunet eID PKI Suite to provide this type of advanced border control infrastructure in the future.

The awarded contract covers delivery and configuration of the Secunet eID PKI Suite and supply of hardware security modules, installation and configuration of the entire system, and system service and maintenance for the next few years.

The project will begin with the supply of core components for the national PKI, comprising of Country Signing Certification Authority (CSCA), Country Verifying Certification Authority (CVCA) and Document Verifying Certification Authority (DVCA).

In order to allow inspection of travel documents from different countries, a National Public Key Directory (N-PKD) will then be set up for the management and provision of basic information needed to verify the authenticity of electronic travel documents.

The N-PKD forms the national counterpart to the Public Key Directory (PKD) of the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation), which provides the necessary data for global interoperability between electronic passports.

In addition, a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) will be provided during the course of the project as a communication interface for the exchange of certificates on an international level.

These aspects collective generate a high-performance background system for issuing, managing and checking official documents.

The system can also be expanded by adding components, such as a PKI for eID and eSign functions for Iceland’s planned national identity card.

Secunet also offers several other solutions for border control infrastructures. Since this summer, Secunet eGates automated border control systems have been in use at Keflavik Airport in Iceland to effectively reduce entry and exit times.

The product range also includes secunet biomiddle, a biometric middleware, as well as client solutions for inspection of electronic identity documents at the border.

Secunet border control systems and the eID PKI Suite are in use throughout the world, including in Germany, Latvia, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, and Czech Republic.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Iceland  |  middleware  |  PKI  |  secunet  |  travel documents