US Border Officials Haven't Properly Verified Visitor Passports For More Than a Decade Due To Improper Software (zdnet.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: U.S. border officials have failed to cryptographically verify the passports of visitors to the U.S. for more than a decade -- because the government didn't have the proper software. The revelation comes from a letter by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who wrote to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) acting commissioner Kevin K. McAleenan to demand answers. E-passports have an electronic chip containing cryptographic information and machine-readable text, making it easy to verify a passport's authenticity and integrity. That cryptographic information makes it almost impossible to forge a passport, and it helps to protect against identity theft. Introduced in 2007, all newly issued passports are now e-passports. Citizens of the 38 countries on the visa waiver list must have an e-passport in order to be admitted to the U.S. But according to the senators' letter, sent Thursday, border staff "lacks the technical capabilities to verify e-passport chips." Although border staff have deployed e-passport readers at most ports of entry, "CBP does not have the software necessary to authenticate the information stored on the e-passport chips." "Specifically, CBP cannot verify the digital signatures stored on the e-passport, which means that CBP is unable to determine if the data stored on the smart chips has been tampered with or forged," the letter stated. Wyden and McCaskill said in the letter that Customs and Border Protection has "been aware of this security lapse since at least 2010."

Comments

Re:We should put thes same people in charge of our

[PopeRatzo]

I can't wait until the government takes over our healthcare. They have proven time and time again that they are the best at managing important services.

I know, right? After that, the government will probably want to take over the military, with enough nuclear weapons to destroy humanity. What could possibly go wrong, amirite? And border security. Thank goodness we live in a free country where the government isn't in charge of something as important as border security or national defense.

We need to act now to keep the government's hands off our military, don't you agree? Yeah, you. Dummy. I'm talking to you.

Re:We all know it's security theatre

[Anonymous Coward]

Also an effective countermeasure against the scourge of international vegan terrorism. Brilliant!