Datacard tapped for South African ID, Windows to get fingerprint scanner
15 August, 2013
category: Biometrics, Digital ID, Government, Smart Cards
South Africa to use Datacard Group’s MX series for card issuance
The country of South Africa is in the process of transitioning from paper-based ID credentials to smart ID cards, and has chosen Datacard’s MX series to facilitate the personalization and issuance process.
Datacard’s smart ID cards will replace South Africa’s current green, bar-coded paper ID books. South African citizens can obtain a smart ID card replacement in an 27 locations throughout the country, with the issuance effort set to expand its sites en route to issuing an estimated 38 million smart ID cards over the next several years.
Smart ID cards promise many more security features than their paper-based predecessors, specifically a dual-interface chip, as well as fingerprint biometrics and biographic data – features that make forgery a more difficult proposition. Issuance will also be expedited, as South African citizens will receive their new card in just 5 to 10 days, compared to the 47 days it took for the previous paper documents to be produced and delivered.
Suprema to provide Live Scanners for the Voter Registration in Yemen
Biometric vendor, Suprema, along with Gemalto have been contracted to deliver a biometric voting system for the Yemen government.
The country of Yemen is currently approaching democracy and is now preparing for its forthcoming presidential elections by investing funds from the United Nations Development Program into an integrated, combined system incorporating Suprema’s RealScan-D and Gemalto’s Coesys solution.
Suprema’s RealScan-D is a scanner that features a scan rate of up to 20 frames-per-second. The solution is compact and features a USB interface making it suitable for mobile jump-kits to be used for on-site registration. RealScan-D has established reliability in line with a number of certifications including FBI IQS, FIPS 201, WHQL, CE, FCC and UL.
Windows 8.1 gets fingerprint sensor
Microsoft has further displayed its support of biometric authentication with its demo of a Fingerprint Cards fingerprint touch sensor at TechEd North America 2013. The sensor works in conjunction with a beta version of Windows 8.1, the latest update to Windows 8.
As reported by Evertiq, the new fingerprint sensor will enable Windows 8.1 users to sign in to their Microsoft account, conduct online payments and other secure transactions using their fingerprint as the secure, user verification factor. The pairing of FPC’s fingerprint touch sensor and this latest update to Windows 8 is expected to provide “touch and go” secure account access.
MorphoTrust iris identification gets top marks from NIST
Iris identification technology from MorphoTrust USA received top honors in accuracy and was among the fastest in evaluations following evaluations conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
NIST’s study, entitled IREX IV, compared the performance of iris algorithms from top commercial and academic vendors based on operational databases of over one million iris records. MorphoTrust’s iris technology was found to be the most accurate across all testing scenarios.
MorphoTrust supplies multi-modal biometric systems to the FBI, U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of State. In addition to its domestic contract list, the company also provides biometric technology for the Unique Identification Authority of India, which currently has more than 300 million enrollments – the largest in the world – and the Indonesia National ID Program, which currently has over 150 million enrollments.
