PACE Protocol Now Supported in Acuant Ozone® for NFC-based Identity Verification
October 5, 2022
Accurately and securely validating physical and digital identity documents is critical, especially when it comes to border crossings and onboarding for financial institutions. Today, more identity documents are being scanned in a mobile environment, so having effective data protection measures is essential when handling sensitive digital data and using near-field communication (NFC).
What is NFC?
Near-field communication (NFC) is a technology that allows devices that are touching or are very close together to communicate with one another by transferring files, authenticating a credit card, scanning a digital identity document and more. While this technology is limited to the devices being within a close range, data protection measures are still integral.
PACE Protocol in Acuant Ozone®
As part of efforts to improve NFC-based identity verification in mobile environments, the PACE protocol is now supported in the mobile SDKs for Acuant Ozone®, a solution for validating ePassports and eIDs.
What is the PACE Protocol?
Password Authenticated Connection Establishment (PACE) is a next-generation security protocol that uses modern cryptography to prevent involuntary reads and protect data privacy when using near-field communication. Because European Union (EU) member states are now required to implement PACE for ePassports and machine-readable travel documents (MRTDs), using a document authentication solution that supports this protocol is essential.
Ozone is a complete solution to intelligently process ePassports and eIDs with a contactless chip in a matter of steps by:
- Accurately extracting the identity holder’s information from the chip, including text and image data
- Verifying the captured identity with the issuer to ensure document authenticity and to confirm the document’s issuance by a trusted source and revocation status to prevent identity fraud
- Validating the document’s authenticity by using advanced cryptography to securely decode the chip and using anti-cloning measures to verify that the chip and document belong to each other
Because Ozone processes identity documents with contactless chips, ensuring effective security measures is key so that criminals can’t virtually clone and capture a person’s PII stored in the chip. In addition to supporting the PACE protocol, anti-cloning security measures that include Active Authentication and Chip Authentication are now also available in Ozone’s mobile SDKs. These enhancements help to validate that the contactless chip in an ePassport and/or an eID is not only genuine, but that the chip and presented physical document belong together and to the person claiming the identity.
As the use of ePassports and eIDs in mobile environments continues to grow, the PACE protocol will be critical for border control, protecting sensitive information, safeguarding against unauthorized access and complying with EU requirements—all of which can be done with a high level of assurance when using Acuant Ozone.
Learn more about processing ePassports and eIDs with the highest level of assurance with Acuant Ozone®.
