Experts say e-passports more convenient, safer than paper documents

MOSCOW, Oct 10 (PRIME) -- The replacement of paper passports with electronic documents is risky as any novelty, but chances of personal data leakage or fraud will be lower in comparison with the paper documents, several experts told PRIME on Wednesday.

“Electronic passports win over paper documents by the convenience of use and safety. Remembering the impact of the use of payment cards and electronic payments instead of paper means is enough here,” said Andrei Yankin, deputy director of the IT security center at firm Jet Infosystems.

Yury Namestnikov, head of the Russian research center of anti-virus maker Kaspersky Lab, agreed that the risks of unsanctioned access to people’s data will be less because the electronic passport has a higher level of security.

The government is discussing introduction of the new passport with an embedded chip that will contain personal data of the owner, fingerprints, and an electronic signature.

The new passport will look like a card of the size of a banking card with the chip and a photograph of the owner. It could be valid for 10 years. The documents could be issued in 9–12 months after a government decision.

Namestnikov at Kaspersky Lab said that the main risk will be copying of the electronic passport.

“It’s important to understand that copying an ID card is a more complicated task than falsifying a paper passport. It’s much easier to block a lost or stolen electronic passport than a paper one. When scanning a blocked document, an employee will see that there is something wrong, and information on blocking spreads almost instantly,” the expert said.

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