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.

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.

Guyana’s new ePassport represents a significant upgrade in both security and national identity. The project covers one million passports to be delivered over four years, with the first 100,000 issued in December 2024. The document combines ICAO-compliant electronic safeguards with design elements rooted in Guyana’s cultural and environmental heritage.

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.

With the rise of digital identity systems, mobile driving licences and biometric identity authentication, it’s tempting to think physical IDs are becoming obsolete. But despite progress being made in the digital world, physical documents remain deeply embedded in global infrastructure, and their role is far from over.

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.

The UK Government has confirmed plans to introduce a mandatory digital identity scheme, described by senior minister Darren Jones as ‘the bedrock of the modern state’. The policy is framed as a tool to strengthen immigration controls, close loopholes in the labour market and provide wider benefits to citizens.

The 2025 edition of Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS), held in Warsaw, Poland (15-17 September), once again confirmed its position as the world’s leading forum for the science and technology of secure documents. The range of technical papers emphasised the strong cross-fertilisation across the sector, which makes innovations in banknote protection equally useful in passports, identity cards, driving licences and civil registrations.

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.

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.

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.

A major new initiative, APTITUDE, has launched under the European Commission’s Large-Scale Pilot (LSP) programme to accelerate the rollout of the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet). Coordinated by the French government, APTITUDE brings together 118 partners from 11 EU Member States and Ukraine, with a total of €20 million in EU funding ..

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.

With a population exceeding 250 million, Pakistan is among the world’s most populous nations and, as such, the demand for international travel documents remains high. Passports in Pakistan are issued by the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports, under the Ministry of the Interior of the federal government. Three types of passports – ordinary (green), official (blue), and diplomatic (red) – are issued, each valid for five or 10 years depending on the type and requirement.

The momentum behind national electronic identity (eID) programmes continues with countries across Africa, Central America, Southeast Asia, and Europe moving ahead at different stages of implementation.

Mexico has formally enacted legislation making the biometric-based Unique Population Registry Code (Clave Única de Registro de Población – CURP) mandatory for all citizens, transforming what was once an optional identifier into the country’s central digital identity instrument.

Governments are increasingly turning to age verification systems and secure identity documents as tools to regulate digital access, safeguard minors online and prevent exposure to harmful content.

ID & Secure Document News™ continues its tracking of the intellectual property strategies of big tech companies in the areas of identity and biometric technologies.

Ethiopia’s new ePassport, designed and manufactured by TOPPAN Security, has been awarded the 2025 Red Dot Award in the Brands & Communication Design category, a prestigious international competition that honours outstanding achievements in communication design and enables winners to use the Red Dot quality label in their communications.

In the identity management field, innovation often comes with a sense of urgency. You identify an opportunity, work up a proposal, attend meetings, submit your bid and then (hopefully) Go! Go! Go! At this point, you already have the solution so well worked out with colleagues (and written into an annexe of the contract) that you don’t have time to reconsider what is already in place in the country’s identity framework.