Biometric smart cards with Next Biometrics’ fingerprint tech tested for African e-government project

An e-government project by an African country is entering the testing phase for biometric smart cards featuring technology jointly developed by Next Biometrics and information security company Softlock.

The biometric smart cards leverage large-area, flexible fingerprint sensors from Next and an operating system, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and biometric applets from Softlock. Softlock provides Tactilis with the operating system for its biometric cards.

Tactilis is a partner of Next for biometric card projects, such as one with IOM, and Next announced early this year that it would ship more sensors to the smart card maker.

The cards in the e-government project will be used for secure two-factor authentication (2FA), and as a way to introduce more security into e-government projects, according to the companies’ announcement. They replace a PKI-based token and PIN system.

“We are very pleased that the joint solution has now entered testing stage,” says Next Biometrics Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Alain Faburel. “Biometric 2-factor authentication offers a high level of security combined with user convenience and holds good potential in e-government, enterprise, healthcare and many more application areas.”

“NEXT’s proven and superior fingerprint sensor technology ideally complements our information security solutions,” comments Magdy Sharawy, CEO of Softlock. “A seamless and intuitive end user experience is key for the adoption and success of security solutions.”

The project is expected to move from the test phase to a pilot in 2020.

Article Topics

Africa  |  authentication  |  biometric cards  |  biometrics  |  digital government  |  fingerprint sensors  |  Next Biometrics