A misconfigured cloud storage environment linked to Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) left scans of 700 passports and state ID cards belonging to high-profile delegates publicly accessible after the December 2025 event.

Nigeria’s Ministry of Interior has outlined a significant expansion of cooperation with the European Union (EU) on border management and migration governance following high-level talks in Abuja on 4 February 2026.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has begun 2026 by pushing further into automated biometric identity verification – while its trusted traveller programme, Global Entry, has been temporarily suspended amid the latest US partial government shutdown.

Latin America’s long-standing ambition to enable cross-border use of national digital identities is entering a more concrete phase.

From 1 February 2026, US domestic air passengers who arrive at airport security without a REAL ID-compliant licence or other accepted identification will be routed into ‘TSA ConfirmID’, an alternative identity-verification process carrying a $45 fee.

Brunei’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) and Ministry of Transport and Infocommunications (MTIC) have introduced Brunei Identity Digital (BruneiID), a national digital identity designed to provide single-login access to selected government digital services.

Belize has received approximately $250,000 in biometric equipment from the US under a new Biometric Data Sharing Partnership (BDSP) with the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The package includes fingerprint-based enrolment systems and document readers at Belize’s international airport and major land border crossings, enabling officers to capture biometric identifiers and query DHS identity databases in real time.

The Biometrics Institute has released a new good practice paper, ‘Biometrics and Account Recovery’, focusing on one of the weakest links in digital identity: how users regain access when authentication fails or accounts are compromised.

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), in the US, has launched Virginia Mobile ID, a smartphone-based version of the state driving licence or ID card, now available as a free app on iOS and Android.

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