Entrust ePassport Technology New Standard for Danish EAC Migration

DALLAS, May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Furthering the momentum of government projects worldwide, Entrust, Inc., has secured an agreement to migrate the Danish National Police (Rigspolitiet) ePassport infrastructure to the Extended Access Control (EAC) standard. Entrust, who displaced the initial provider of the country's Basic Access Control (BAC) trust infrastructure, will help Denmark adhere to the European Union's (EU) newest standards for biometrics and ePassport security.

The agreement is the result of a joint effort between Entrust and Nets, an Entrust TrustedPartner. Nets is a Danish technology vendor that is among the largest companies in Northern Europe that specializes in payment cards, payment solutions and the exchange of payment information. The project's initial rollout will issue 670,000 EAC ePassports, but eventually will be provided to each Danish citizen who applies for a passport through the Danish National Police.

This partnership is not the first between Entrust and a Danish organization. Entrust's credentialing and public key infrastructure (PKI) technology is currently relied upon the country's national ID, a project that is operated by DanID (owned by Nets). Denmark has issued 3.5 million national IDs to date.

"EAC is the highest standard for international border security and travel documents, and Entrust is proud to partner with the Danish National Police to migrate the country to this technology," said Entrust President and CEO Bill Conner. "From ePassport projects to national ID initiatives, Denmark continues to be one of the most advanced and innovative countries in the world."

Entrust will deploy a comprehensive PKI architecture for the EAC project, including the Country Signing Certification Authority (CSCA), Country Verifying Certification Authority (CVCA), Document Verifying Certification Authority (DVCA) and full Single Point of Contact (SPOC) capabilities.

EAC is the protocol defined for ensuring that only authorized inspection systems are able to access biometric data (e.g., iris scan and/or fingerprint) stored on the contactless chip on an ePassport. The specification describes an architecture to enable cross-jurisdiction enablement of passport inspection systems (IS) to authenticate to the contactless chip of the passport, as well as the authorization of that IS to access the protected biometrics.

Headquartered at the "Polititorvet" in Copenhagen, the Danish National Police includes operative departments engaged in investigation into IT crime, forensic technical investigations, road traffic tasks, and the surveillance of environments involving drugs, bikers, gangs and prostitution, as well as international cooperation with the police in other countries.

The organization is divided into five areas that are staffed with administrative personnel, attorneys, police officers and many others in charge of, for example, budgets and accounts, IT and tele-related duties, police equipment and vehicles, personnel and education and training, as well as press and information tasks.

For more information on SPOC or Entrust's ePassport solution, visit entrust.com/epassport.

About Entrust

Entrust provides identity-based security solutions that empower enterprises, consumers, citizens and Web sites in more than 4,000 organizations spanning 60 countries. Entrust's identity-based approach offers the right balance between affordability, expertise and service. For strong authentication, fraud detection, digital certificates, SSL and PKI, call 888-690-2424, e-mail entrust@entrust.com or visit 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.

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