Mount Airey Group, a provider of identity solutions to federal agencies, is partnering with Acuant, a leading provider of data capture and authentication solutions, to launch an authentication solution for border control.Acuant's newly developed chip reader technology, Acuant CHIPTM, will function as a core component of AssureIDTM which is integrated with Mount Airey Group's Ozone e-Passport Authentication technology. The partnership offers the first-to-market certificate chain validation for passports, including country-specific policy controls.Acuant CHIP performs a comprehensive series of authentication tests such as, Basic Access Control (BAC) to cryptographically access the chip contents; Active Authentication, to confirm the authenticity of the chip (and that it has not been cloned); Data Group Hash Authentication, to confirm that data group files have not been modified; and Document Signer Authentication, to confirm the authenticity of the Data Group hashes.Ozone then performs the cryptographic validation of the Document Signer against its trusted Country Signer Directory to confirm that it is a valid signer, that has not been revoked by the country, and that it is in compliance with country-specific policy enforcement controls. The outcome of the Ozone processing either confirms the authenticity of the presented document or identifies it as untrusted (and possibly fraudulent).Mount Airey Group, which supports government and commercial entities globally, has worked with Acuant to integrate its Ozone e-Passport Authentication technology, which collects all relevant PKI data for each country and validates any electronic passport for compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.The integrated offering validates a passport's certificate chain to confirm that the document was electronically signed and issued by the originating country, and as such, can be trusted as an authentic identity document.The e-Passport solution is designed to handle a host of issues unique to passports with individualized policies for every country, and complies with all ISO and ICAO standards for e-Passports."We are excited to partner with Acuant to create a new standard in chip certification and document authentication that will make it extremely difficult for someone to counterfeit a passport and unlawfully pass through border and airport security processes," said Paul Townsend, Director of Cybersecurity at Mount Airey Group.
Mount Airey Group and Acuant partner on chip reader tech for passports
