The concern for better security in airlines remains vital as immigration concerns and terrorism threats require heightened monitoring from officials. Along with this concern comes a need to truly authenticate and verify the identity of all those boarding airlines or entering a different country.

Government immigration officials from various countries have answered to this call with Electronic Passport Projects. According to the US Department of State's Travel website, e-passports will be issued to United States citizens by the end of 2006 with other countries also implementing biometrics to secure their citizens' passports.

 

The electronic passport includes three elements: a chip with personal information stored on it, a biometric identifier of the person, and a digital signature. At Customs, officers verify the personal information on the e-passport as well as the biometrics stored on a chip and incorporated within the passport.

 

Enabling this enhanced authentication for government immigration departments, SafeNet, provider of information security, announced recently they were chosen to provide their Hardware Security Modules (HSM) to better secure the Electronic Passports Projects for governments in 14 countries.

 

"We are proud to be selected by government immigration departments around the globe for their e-passport projects, said Chris Fedde, senior vice president and general manager, SafeNet Enterprise Division in a statement to the press.

 

"This selection reflects the worldwide recognition that SafeNet's FIPS and CC validated HSMs provide the highest possible level of security."

 

Using SafeNet's HSMs digital identity applications offers protection for the digital signing key, which is crucial to data protection and theft noted a news release.

 

"SafeNet HSM products feature true hardware key management to maintain the integrity of encryption keys. Sensitive keys are created, stored and used exclusively within the secure confines of the hardware security module to prevent compromise."

 

For more information, please visit: www.safenet-inc.com