Border security plays a key role in the context of the strategy towards a more coherent and efficient security policy across the EU. It is a key part of the central security strategy. In common with other crucial European coordination actions it is of considerable complexity at legal, technical and organisational levels. The BORSEC action supported crucial European endeavours by technical advice and support, as well as by conceptual studies to explore new approaches to integrated border management and related issues. For selected areas of high strategic impact, such as biometric testing and electronic identification, BORSEC cooperates with other stakeholders to close existing technological gaps. European projects related to Border Security are:
• The implementation of the EU regulation on electronic passports* based on which the “Article 6 Committee” has elaborated the detailed technical specifications** to which all Member States implementations have to be compliant. A further subcommittee called the Brussels Interoperability Group (BIG) addresses the interoperability problems of those implementa- tions.
• The introduction of biometric identifiers in the new electronic passports and residence permits.
• The development of a coherent European Border Management strategy for which purpose the FRONTEX agency has been set up.
The action addressed concerns of the European citizens with respect to the increased complexity of the digital world to which border security technology adds an important new dimension.
Major 2008 achievements
Achievements towards interoperability of electronic passports with fingerprints
In support to the BIG, the action organised 3 meetings and co-organised 2 passport test events to foster interoperability of electronic passports of the EU Member States. The BIG acts as the focal point for resolving all technical issues that arise from the development, implementation and application of the electronic passports, including a Certificate Policy for control of access to the information stored in an e-passport.
The action carried out the 6th Extended Access Control (EAC) interoperability test
workshop on the 26th and 27th of June 2008 in Ispra. The aim of the test was to
evaluate the interoperability of implementations based on the EAC version 1.11. Tests executed were:
• conformity tests of ePassport chips; • conformity tests of passport readers; • conformity tests of inspection systems;
• and the crossover test of passports and inspection systems.
The action co-organised an ePassports EAC Conformity & Interoperability Tests in Prague, September 7th-12th 2008. This event welcomed more than 500 delegates
from all over the world (more than 35 countries) and was attended by European and world specialists in the field, suppliers and state organisations representa- tives responsible for e-passports issuing, technical infrastructure implementa- tion and preparation of electronic passports border control.
Contact Jan Loeschner Tel: +39 0332 785242 e-mail: [email protected] website: http://serac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ borsec
B O R S E C
Passport reader conformity test carried out the first time in Ispra.
Conformity tests carried out by the BORSEC action during the epassport EAC Conformity & Interoperability tests in Prague, on 7-12 September 2008.
* Council Regulation (EC) No 2252/2004 ** C(2005) 409 final
Tests were divided into 3 parts: Conformity test, Crossover test and EAC PKI test. More than 1400 ePassports have been tested and 35 world specialists have spoken at the conference about electronic travel documents, including the fields of security, data protection, cryptography and interoperability. Furthermore, the event included an exhibition of technical equipment and services and meetings of the European Commission scientific committees*.
AAAS Session on Border Security – What is at stake?
The session organised and moderated by BORSEC at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) addressed how science and technology can be leveraged to find a solution to current threats of democratic societies without producing invincible threats to social values. In doing so, the symposium helped to spell out not only state of the art but also a vision for the future: the grand challenges for biometrics in border security, privacy and identity management.
The talks in the session compared and contrasted European approaches on the use of biometrics in border control with respect to those adopted in the USA. Their effectiveness on security and privacy were debated and it seems that neither approach is uniquely better than the other.
Challenges for 2009 and beyond
Verification of the identity of persons (e.g. at the border as part of the border crossing procedure) is only one particular element in a more comprehensive control process, and currently it is exclusively static and uses only a reduced set of the possible technologies. Application areas requiring identification, verification and authentication are expanding from persons to processes and infrastructures, including hardware and components, and addressing additional objectives for verification and authentication, moving from static environments to flexible and mobile ones.
To respond to these trends, the action will refocus intensifying work on elec- tronic identification in the context of borders and access control. The JRC is the unique research institution in Europe that could provide unbiased advice in the proper usage of these new technologies, with due consideration of their ethical implications, thus contributing in a responsible way to improve the security for citizen, public administration and society.
The main focus will be the preparation of the technical contributions ensur- ing security for future applications in electronic identification with respect to verification and authentication of persons, processes and hardware (e.g. sen- sors), applicable in static and flexible (mobile) environments including critical infrastructures. This will provide substantial contributions and valuable input for political decisions, as guidance / support for policy makers, industry and public administrations, to improve existing applications and installations, and will become a central, important building block for upcoming solutions. The main interest is in cross-border and European-wide challenges. Accordingly, the action will initiate European-wide networks of competence, motivating and inviting partners from research, industry and user communities to participate. In 2009 this action will be renamed PRIMA (Passport, Identity Management and Access Control).
Screen shot of JRC Test Tool itest after successful testing of an electronic passport according to the Rf Protocol And Application Test Standard For E-Passport - Part 3: Tests for Application Protocol and Logical Data Structure, Version: 1.01 (Feb 20, 2007) and the “Advanced Security Mechanisms for Machine Readable Travel Documents – Extended Access Control (EAC): Tests For Security Implementation”. Version 1.12 of October 3, 2008
GLOSSARY
AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science
EAC Extended Access Control
BIG Brussels Interoperability Group
FRONTEX European Agency for the Management of Operational Coopera- tion at the External Borders
PKI Public Key Infrastructure
STABORSEC Standardisation for Border Security project