Does NZ Immigration verify the cryptographic signatures on biometric passports

James Sullivan made this Official Information request to Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

The request was successful.

From: James Sullivan

Dear Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment,

Does NZ Immigration have the IT infrastructure and processes in place to verify that the data stored on biometric passports was put there by the issuing government?

This would be done by verifying the cryptographic signature of the data was made by the issuing government. Not just reading the contents of the passport alone.

More details on this can be found on the Passive Authentication section in this wikipedia link.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_...

Yours faithfully,
James Sullivan

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From: Ministerial Services
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

 

 

Ref: 1718-1063

 

Dear Mr Sullivan

On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 25 February 2018 requesting under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:

·        Does NZ Immigration have the IT infrastructure and processes in
place to verify that the data stored on biometric passports was put there
by the issuing government?

 

·        This would be done by verifying the cryptographic signature of
the data was made by the issuing government. Not just reading the contents
of the passport alone.

Your request is being processed in accordance with the Act and a response
will be sent to you in due course. If you have any enquiries regarding
your request feel free to contact us via email [MBIE request email] or using
the contact details below.

 

Yours sincerely,

Alan Witcombe

MANAGER, MINISTERIAL SERVICES

Corporate, Governance and Information

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Level 4, 15 Stout Street, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

 

[1]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government
services

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1. http://www.govt.nz/

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From: Nic Medway
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment


Attachment DOIA 1718 1063 Signed Response Letter.pdf
71K Download View as HTML


Dear Mr Sullivan,

 

The attached letter provides the Ministry’s response to your request under
the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA) as per your email of 25
February 2018 requesting the following information:

 

 

o Does NZ Immigration have the IT infrastructure and processes in place
to verify that the data stored on biometric passports was put there by
the issuing government?
o This would be done by verifying the cryptographic signature of the
data was made by the issuing government. Not just reading the contents
of the passport alone.

More details on this can be found on the Passive Authentication section in
this Wikipedia link.
 [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_...

 

 

Regards

Nicola Medway

Senior Business Advisor

 

Business Support | Border Operations|Compliance, Risk & Intelligence
Services

Immigration New Zealand | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

Level 1, 15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140 |
DX: SR 57007

Email: [2][email address]

 

 

[3]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government
services

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References

Visible links
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biometric_...
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.govt.nz/

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Richard left an annotation ()

One wouldn't expect a Ministry to be pointing to Wikipedia as an authoratative information source. That's quite irregular!

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