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The new travel passports are dangerous |
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The new biometric passports, that were supposed to provide the international security are insecure and even dangerous. According the the experts' research, the microchips that are built into these documents can be cracked and falsified. Moreover, according to the experts, technically it is quite possible that the terrorists could turn the electronic biometric passports into explosive devices. The scientists of the Netherlands University Radboud de Nijmegen have announced that the use of the biometric passports is insecure. They claim that the electronic passports that are functional in the European countries already for several years, can be used by the terrorists. This conclusion has been admitted after the scientists have managed to crack the chip that is built into the passports of the Belgian citizens. In spite of the affirmations of the Belgian authorities that the issued passports for the trips outside the European Union have a very high security level, the specialists are sharing quite an opposite opinion. The scientists are convinced that the risk of the falsification is quite high. Besides, in the future, the terrorists would be able not only to falsify the passports, but also use these to organize an explosion. The electronic circuits of the passport is quite suitable for that. "The terrorists could create the passport-bomb, the explosive device that would trigger, for example at the moment of the passport control",- tell the scientists from Netherlands. It is worth to mention that it is not the first time, when the usage of the new type of passports is considered doubtful. In August 2006 the American hackers have announced that they have created a device for reading of the data from the biometric passports. As it was found out, the documents with the high security level can be cracked and the information written on these can be copied, blocked or falsified. The device has been demonstrated on the press-conference in Los-Angeles. It can capture the radio-signals from the chips, that are impossible to capture, as the developers of the biometric passports affirm. After the presentation of the device and explanation of the working principles, the hackers have promised that they will upgrade the portable device to capture the signals of the biometric passports, but will not start the mass production of these. The migration to the biometric passports in the world has began several years ago. The New Orleans agreement that has considered the face biometry - as the main identification technology for the travel documents and entrance visas of the next generation, has been signed by the 188 countries of the world after the events of the 11-th of September 2001. The documents of the new type are being issued in the USA since August 2006. 40 more countries have announced that they are also issuing biometric passports. Among these are Japan and most of the European countries. The main goal of the introduction of the new documents for the trips abroad - is the increase of the security and falsification-proof level and also the protection of the owners from the pretensions of the European and USA consulates, that are planning to start the gradual migration to the electronic personal identification. The new biometric passport looks just like the usual one, but is significantly heavier of the previous one. The page that usually contain the photo of the owner and his main data is supplied with a microchip. It contains the digital photo of the document owner, his surname, name and father name, gender, passport number, birth date, issue date and the validity date. It is supposed that the information that is stored on the chip can be extended - if the international agreements would suppose to add the data about the fingerprints. But this is currently not required by the international legislation. |
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| This article has been viewed 114 time(s). Article Submitted On: April 10, 2008 |
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