Entrust, Hewlett Packard Partner to Deploy Taiwanese ePassports, Authenticate Biometric Data

DALLAS, May 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- An innovator in ePassport technology, Entrust, Inc. will provide its proven public key infrastructure to the Taiwanese government to help authenticate sensitive biometric information stored on machine readable travel documents (MRTDs) -- also known as ePassports -- which will be available to nearly 23 million citizens by the end of 2008.

"The need to securely identify people moving across national and international borders has never been more important than it is today," said Dr. Poh-Chuan Tan, Public Sector Director, HP Asia Pacific and Japan. "We are excited to be enabling the implementation of biometric epassports in Taiwan to help increase border security without adding to traveller waiting times.

Secured by Entrust Authority Security Manager, the Bureau of Consular Affairs (BOCA), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan, will leverage the PKI to protect the integrity and validity of personal data (e.g., digitized information, photograph) via Entrust digital signatures for Basic Access Control (BAC). Developed using Hewlett Packard's NIS, Taiwan's ePassport systems plans to provide BAC ePassports to 23 million Taiwan citizens by the second half of 2008.

"Leveraging our public key infrastructure technology, we are proud to secure the most trusted government-issued credentials around the world," said Entrust Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Conner. "The PKI technology leveraged in this specific deployment addresses the needs of the Taiwanese government today, but also provides the ability to migrate to second-generation ePassport solutions as their requirements and border security needs evolve."

The use of biometric ePassports will enable the Taiwanese government to protect the integrity and verify the authenticity of data stored on the MRTDs, as well as help stop the use of forged or tampered travel documents. Initial ePassport projects typically standardize on BAC, which features passive and optional active authentication and is in production in Europe and many parts of the world. Entrust provides BAC ePassport security for a number of top global e-governments, including the U.S., U.K., Slovenia, Singapore, New Zealand and now Taiwan.

A vital tool to help protect both international and domestic borders, ePassport travel documents contain an electronic chip -- smart card or RFID -- that stores information that can be verified against the data on the passport as well as against the individual. Because of the sensitivity of this personal information (e.g., digitized photographs, or other biometrics) the security and integrity of ePassports are critical. To protect these assets, PKI is an integral technology for the security and verification infrastructure of ePassports.

Modular and fully integrated, the Entrust Authority PKI portfolio is built on the foundation of Entrust Authority Security Manager, the certification authority (CA) system responsible for issuing and managing users' digital identities. Optional components help organizations manage the entire lifecycle of PKI certificates. Approximately 1,000 government and commercial organizations have purchased Entrust PKI solutions since Entrust introduced its first PKI.

Also available from Entrust Authority Security Manager, Extended Access Control (EAC) provides a higher level of security during the verification process of ePassports. To experience the benefits of the next-generation ePassports, visit the Entrust interactive EAC demonstration at https://www.entrust.com/forms/eac-demo/index.htm.

HP focuses on simplifying technology experiences for all of its customers -- from individual consumers to the largest businesses. With a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP is among the world's largest IT companies, with revenue totaling $107.7 billion for the four fiscal quarters ended Jan. 31, 2008. More information about HP is available at http://www.hp.com/.

About Entrust

Entrust secures digital identities and information for consumers, enterprises and governments in more than 1,700 organizations spanning 60 countries. Leveraging a layered security approach to address growing risks, Entrust solutions help secure the most common digital identity and information protection pain points in an organization. These include SSL, authentication, fraud detection, shared data protection and e-mail security. For information, call 888-690-2424, e-mail entrust@entrust.com or visit http://www.entrust.com/.

Entrust is a registered trademark of Entrust, Inc. in the United States and certain other countries. In Canada, Entrust is a registered trademark of Entrust Limited. All Entrust product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Entrust, Inc. or Entrust Limited. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.