Biometric Passports

Is the biometric passport secure?

IPS takes security and privacy very seriously. The new British biometric passport meets international standards as set out by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) we are confident that it is one of the most secure passports available.

The new biometric passport has many new security features including a chip. The new design will be harder to forge, the new security features will show if the passport is genuine or that it has been tampered with and the facial biometrics on the chip will help link the passport holder to the document.

The data on the chip (your photo and personal information as printed on page 31 of the passport) will be protected against skimming and eavesdropping, through the use of advanced digital encryption techniques. The chip will complement the security features currently inherent in the passport, including the 'machine readable zone' (found on the personal data page of the passport).

How is the biometric passport protected?

The chip in the new biometric passport is part of a suite of new security features to help fight passport fraud and forgery. It is protected through three layers of security:

A digital signature to show the encoded data is genuine and which country has issued the passport.
A protection against unauthorised readings ("skimming") through Basic Access Control, a secure access protocol.
The data will be locked down using a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), which provides protection against encoded data being changed. PKI is a digital encryption technology, which enables validation of the data as being genuine.

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