Identity is quintessential not only to individuals but also to governments and other entities delivering services to citizens. More globally, modern states rely on government ID programs that ensure a unique identification of each citizen, guaranteeing their rights and duties. To complete these objectives, governments issue ID credentials to each citizen, with the appropriate security level.

ID credentials typically include Passports, ID cards, driving licenses, resident cards, etc. Nowadays, these ID credentials include security features that make reading them easy. Many ID credentials include a contact or contactless chip that contains biographical (name, date of birth, citizenship, …) and biometrical (fingerprint, photography, iris, …) allowing to identify the cardholder. Many ID documents also include a Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) that contains some information about the document holder as well as information needed to access the chip.

Once an identity document has been issued and delivered, services to be delivered to the citizens require an identity authentication. Several hardware and software solutions are available to complete this task, in a secure and privacy-sensitive manner.

European values drive how identity is to be handled to guarantee both the sovereignty of the State and the sovereignty of each citizen, who is entitled to decide how his/her identity will be used.

Each of us has now a set of identities, defining citizenship, travel rights, enterprise security, ability to complete transactions, etc. Depending on the application context, each of these identities may require different tools to be verified. However, all of these identities belong to the same person, and authenticating that a person matches a given identity is capital.

Authenticating an identity document is actually a combination of several factors. To detect identity fraud, it is necessary to ensure that:

• • The document is issued by an official authority,
  • Data present in the document at the time of control have not been forged,
  • The document has not been adulterated,
  • Data has not been copied from a document to another one,
  • Printed biographic information (name, date of birth, etc.) are the same as the information in the chip,
  • The person presenting the document is its rightful owner, typically, this is verified thanks biometric technologies.

An efficient reading of an ID document goes through a combination of reading printed data, and photo, on the document and reading data from the chip. This is achieved thanks to an optical scanning of the document MRZ (Machine Readable Zone), combined with a reading of the document chip and a matching of biometric data.

Elyctis identity document readers come in all shapes and sizes: readers can be fixed or portable, they can be connected or standalone, they can be attached to a larger device or separate or be dematerialized and based on a smartphone app. Elyctis proposes a range of readers to cover all identification, verification, and authentication needs in the government identity environment.

Typically, the industry proposes two types of solutions:

• • Fixed or mobile dedicated readers for Identity, which are the best adapted to specific requirements,
  • Using a smartphone and an application to access the document, a solution which is more universal but often less user-friendly.

A dedicated reader may either have its own built-in security or be connected to a host that will execute security functions. Conversely, a smartphone can rely on either the built in smartphone security (thanks to a Secure Element, for instance) or establish a secure connection to the cloud.

Entities in need of authenticating identities will make decision depending on the application context:

• • Most often sovereignty related applications such as border control, law enforcement or voting require dedicated readers as needs are specific and user friendliness is essential,
  • Government document issuance also requires dedicated readers as they are used in an industrial environment,
  • Final control at delivery of ID documents to the citizen could be considered both ways, but, in most cases, issuing authorities prefer to use a dedicated device,
  • Depending on considerations including desktop space, connectivity, and versatility, the tourism and hospitality industry may go for either a dedicated reader or a smartphone based application,
  • Banking and finance, industries in need of performing KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) checks and to verify the identity of transaction stakeholders, will pay an utmost attention to security, and may elect a dedicated or smartphone based solutions.