ID Cards
Following on from the success of the e-Passport deployment, Malaysia set about developing an intelligent smartcard based replacement for their national identity card. This was all part of their farsighted 20-20 vision to develop Malaysia's economy and bring living standards up to those of their industrialised neighbours in Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Once again the technology underpinning this card was designed and developed by the team that now forms Digital Locksmiths. Initially working with the government agencies to define the requirements and independently surveying the latest technological offerings a solution was defined that became SMOS; a secure card operating system offering the run-time security only available via MULTOS and the code re-use and data sharing only offered by JavaCard. The resulting hybrid enabled Malaysia not only to deploy the first electronic ID but also maintain independence of application between ministries. (This security by segmentation rather than stratification is a principle seemingly lost in the UK government's thinking on the ID card issue).
This National ID card branded "MyKad" contains five independent applications for Health, Driver's licence, ID, frequent traveller, and E-cash; and its security has been tested to the highest standards to enable it to run a national e-cash application safely. The guys at Digital Locksmiths are proud to be associated with this government project that took just three years from drawing board to deployment.
This project demonstrates Digital Locksmiths' way of working at its best.
- Intimate involvement with the customer to understand the requirements
- Design and implementation of a technically advanced system
- Demonstrable security combined with relative ease of use
- Fully documented and handed to the client who can independently manage the system with no strings attached. Support is available, seldom required and certainly not an on going expense for the client
Identity cards have always been something of a controversial topic. In much of the world they are taken for granted and in some countries they exist under other names (just try buying 'liquor' in the 'States without being able to produce your Driver's Licence!). Here in the UK we are happy to claim they are not needed whist simultaneously trying to prove our identities with faded birth certificates, passports and utility bills salvaged from a waste paper bin.
It remains our belief that smart card technology with suitably defined applications has the potential to help people prove their identity when it is necessary whilst maintaining privacy. When combined with biometrics, card applications can confirm entitlement without disclosing identity.
From experience, the Digital Locksmiths know that well designed intelligent applications can be valuable to everybody, whilst poorly planned alternatives will be dangerous.
