News | ID & Secure Document News

Francis Tuffy

1 Dec. 2025

3 min read

Electrochromic Films – A Window into the Future of Secure Documents

Electrically controlled reflective films, as presented by Younjung Park and Heeyeon Kim of NANOSILIKHAN Advanced Materials, have taken a class of technologies long known in smart glazing and displays and adapted it specifically for high-security identification documents.

Free Technology Free

Francis Tuffy

24 Nov. 2025

2 min read

New Report Finds ID cards at Risk

Entrust’s new 2026 Identity Fraud Report – The Changing Face of Fraud highlights how national ID cards have become the soft underbelly of global identity systems. Compared with ePassports and many driving licences, ID cards often carry fewer physical and digital security features and can be governed by less stringent issuance processes. As a result, they represent a disproportionate share of fraudulent ID documents detected in remote onboarding and KYC checks, making them a key target for organised crime.

ID Cards

Francis Tuffy

17 Nov. 2025

2 min read

Germany’s Quantum Secure National ID Card

Germany has begun preparing for a phased transition to a quantum-secure national identity card, aiming to safeguard the cryptographic integrity of its identity infrastructure against future quantum threats. The initiative is a collaboration between the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, Bundesdruckerei, G+D, Infineon Technologies AG, and the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

ID Cards

Francis Tuffy

11 Nov. 2025

2 min read

Hueck Folien Opens New Metallisation Facility in Austria

Hueck Folien has successfully commissioned a new high-vacuum vapour deposition facility at its headquarters in Baumgartenberg, Austria. The €8.6 million investment, announced in September 2024, includes both a new metallisation system and associated infrastructure upgrades, and marks a major advance in the company’s production of high-performance coatings for the security sector.

Company

Francis Tuffy

4 Nov. 2025

3 min read

Two Roads to Digital Identity

Two announcements in October highlight how differently the US and Europe are approaching digital identity. Apple confirmed that US users will soon be able to store their passport as a digital ID in Apple Wallet, allowing them to verify their identity at selected TSA checkpoints. A few taps on your phone and your identity lives alongside your boarding pass, credit cards, car hire and hotel reservation. Days earlier, the European Commission announced €15 million in new funding to accelerate development and certification of EUDI Wallets across member states.

Editorial

Francis Tuffy

27 Oct. 2025

7 min read

Safe Streets and Secure Citizen ID in San Salvador

The 22nd annual CLARCIEV (Latin American and Caribbean Council for Civil Registries, Identity and Vital Statistics) conference was held from 1-2 October in San Salvador, marking one of the most well-attended editions in recent years. The event drew delegations from 22 countries and, for the first time, included a parallel exhibition area showcasing technology providers specialising in secure identity systems, biometric enrolment, document personalisation, and data management.

Events Free Free

Francis Tuffy

27 Oct. 2025

4 min read

News in Brief

Thales has unveiled MultiApp 5.2 Premium PQC, which it claims is the world’s first smartcard certified to resist attacks from quantum computers.

News

John Peters

27 Oct. 2025

3 min read

The Power of Credentials That Speak for Themselves

Picture a quiet, rainy Sunday night in rural North Dakota. The roads are empty – until a car suddenly speeds past. A highway patrol officer pursues the speeding driver and signals them to pull over. Stepping out into the drizzle, the officer approaches the driver and asks for identification.

Technology

Francis Tuffy

27 Oct. 2025

3 min read

Giving You Back Your Identity

A new biometric barcode protocol from FaceTec promises to close the gap between documents and their holders – merging cryptography, biometrics and QR technology into a single, privacy-preserving identity layer.

Technology

Francis Tuffy

27 Oct. 2025

2 min read

AI – Help or Hindrance?

As artificial intelligence becomes ever more important to document authentication, new research warns that its strengths can also be its weaknesses. A study presented at the 2025 Optical & Digital Document Security™ conference in Warsaw shows how adversarial attacks can fool even the most accurate AI systems into verifying counterfeit documents as genuine.

Technology

Francis Tuffy

27 Oct. 2025

1 min read

Call for Papers – High Security Printing™ EMEA 2026

Reconnaissance invites proposals for papers to be presented at High Security Printing™ EMEA, taking place from 9-11 February 2026 in Rabat, Morocco’s elegant capital and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Events

Francis Tuffy

23 Oct. 2025

3 min read

Full-Parallax Authentication

The demand for high-security document features has driven research into optical technologies capable of producing effects that are both visually striking and extremely difficult to counterfeit.

Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

19 Oct. 2025

3 min read

UK Digital ID Update

The UK Government has taken a major step towards a nationwide digital identity infrastructure, launching its first operational pilot through the veterans’ digital ID card programme, available to 1.8 million former service personnel. The initiative enables veterans to download a secure credential to a smartphone, serving as both proof of service and a live testbed for the wider citizen digital ID scheme planned for national rollout before 2029.

Digital Identity

Francis Tuffy

13 Oct. 2025

2 min read

Thales Launches Quantum-Resistant Smartcard

Thales has unveiled MultiApp 5.2 Premium PQC, which it claims is the world’s first smartcard certified to resist attacks from quantum computers . Certified by ANSSI, France’s national cybersecurity agency, the product incorporates cryptographic signatures based on the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 204, one of the new NIST-approved post-quantum algorithms derived from structured lattice mathematics. This enables the card to withstand future quantum decryption methods that threaten conventional RSA and ECC encryption.

Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

6 Oct. 2025

1 min read

Partial Shutdown of NIST Biometric Services

The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced a suspension of all biometric testing, ranking and research activities — including the Facial Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT) — as a result of the ongoing US government shutdown. The pause interrupts one of the world’s most influential evaluation programmes for facial recognition algorithms, relied upon by governments, border agencies, and private sector developers to benchmark performance and fairness.

Digital Identity

Francis Tuffy

28 Sept. 2025

5 min read

News in Brief

ID.me has raised $340 million in Series E funding to scale its secure, interoperable digital identity platform. With over 152 million users and adoption across 20 US federal and 45 state agencies, the platform supports federated identity at NIST IAL2 assurance levels – essential for high-trust public sector applications.

News

Francis Tuffy

28 Sept. 2025

3 min read

IOTA Honours Secure Document Optical Innovation

The International Optical Technologies Association (IOTA) has inaugurated its Excellence in Optical Technologies Awards, recognising outstanding advances in optical security technologies. The awards were presented during a special ceremony at the Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) 2025 conference in Warsaw, underlining the position of optical devices at the heart of the secure document industry.

Events

Francis Tuffy

28 Sept. 2025

3 min read

Let’s Celebrate the Genius of Secure Documents

Warsaw has just hosted ODDS 2025 – the Optical & Digital Document Security™ conference – and once again, the event proved to be more than just a technical gathering. It was a reminder that secure documents are not dull, bureaucratic artefacts but living examples of human ingenuity. They sit at the intersection of science, design, and trust. They deserve to be celebrated not only for the technologies they embody but for the fundamental role they play in our societies.

Editorial

Francis Tuffy

28 Sept. 2025

3 min read

Collecting and Caring for Biometric ID Data

Biometrics have become integral to modern identity systems, providing a means of binding the individual to the credential through unique physical traits. Their use spans enrolment for passports and eID (electronic ID) cards to border management and online authentication. Yet, as adoption expands, questions of governance, oversight, and technical resilience persist.

Technology

Francis Tuffy

28 Sept. 2025

2 min read

Covestro Marks 10 Years of Innovation in Secure Document Materials

Covestro, the German materials science company spun out from Bayer in 2015, is celebrating a decade of innovation and growth with a focus on sustainable solutions for secure documents. Over the past ten years, the company has established itself as a key supplier of high-performance polymer films used in passports, ID cards, and driving licences.

Company

Latest News

Electrochromic Films – A Window into the Future of Secure Documents

New Report Finds ID cards at Risk

Germany’s Quantum Secure National ID Card

Hueck Folien Opens New Metallisation Facility in Austria

Two Roads to Digital Identity

Safe Streets and Secure Citizen ID in San Salvador

News in Brief

The Power of Credentials That Speak for Themselves

Giving You Back Your Identity

AI – Help or Hindrance?

Call for Papers – High Security Printing™ EMEA 2026

Full-Parallax Authentication

UK Digital ID Update

Thales Launches Quantum-Resistant Smartcard

Partial Shutdown of NIST Biometric Services

News in Brief

IOTA Honours Secure Document Optical Innovation

Let’s Celebrate the Genius of Secure Documents

Collecting and Caring for Biometric ID Data

Covestro Marks 10 Years of Innovation in Secure Document Materials

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