EU Affairs
New e-passports dubbed waste of money
By MaltaMedia News
Aug 8, 2006, 11:19

New e-passports, which will be introduced in a number of European Union (EU) countries in the upcoming months, as well as in the United States in October, have been dubbed “a waste of money” by German computer security expert Lukas Grunwald. According to EUobserver the expert recently demonstrated how personal information stored on the documents could be copied and transferred to another device.

The e-passport, also known as a biometric passport includes fingerprint data and must be issued to citizens in all EU countries, including Malta, by 28th June 2009 at the latest. So far only Germany has issued the documents.

Mr.Grunwald spoke of the e-passport flaws at a Defcon conference in Las Vegas. The conference is an annual showcase of weaknesses discovered in electronic equipment such as computers, phone equipment and other machines. It assembles many of the world's best-known security experts.

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