At High Security Printing™ (HSP) Asia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Authentix announced the commercial launch of PICO secure™, described as the world’s first nano-optic, plasmonic optical variable device (OVD) engineered specifically for identity documents. Building on Authentix’s established nano-optic platform, PICO secure delivers always-on structural colour and pronounced movement effects aimed at Level 1 public authentication.

The 21st High Security Printing™ Asia conference, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 1-3 December 2025, delivered the strongest identity-focused programme in the event’s history. A total of 337 delegates from 145 organisations across 51 countries, including representatives of 34 governments and central banks, met to examine how physical and digital identity systems in the region are evolving and how document design must respond to increasingly sophisticated attack vectors.

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 year opened with a characteristically ‘British’ approach to identity: no overt national ID card, but a de facto digital identity system constructed from government platforms, KYC schemes and emerging mobile credentials.

This year, Reconnaissance completed a rebranding exercise across its newsletters. Each title now carries a strapline that states, in a few words, what it is for. For most, this was a largely descriptive exercise. For ID & Secure Document News™ (IDN) we chose something different: a line that expresses a purpose – ‘Building a secure identity community’.

The annual Regional Banknote and ID Document of the Year Awards (2 December 2025), a highlight of the High Security Printing™ (HSP) Asia conference, took place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, bringing together issuing authorities, security printers and solution providers from across the region to acknowledge excellence in the industry.

From December 2025, His Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) will begin issuing a fully redesigned British passport in which the most visible change is the replacement of Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Arms with the coat of arms of King Charles III on the cover and title page.

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.

From December 2025, His Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) will begin issuing a fully redesigned British passport in which the most visible change is the replacement of Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Arms with the coat of arms of King Charles III on the cover and title page. The Home Office describes the redesign as the first ‘wholly new’ British passport configuration in five years and positions it as the most secure version of the document yet produced.

Regula has released the 7320, a portable document reader that brings many functions of a fixed border-control workstation into a handheld unit.

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.

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.

Kyrgyzstan has begun issuing a redesigned 2025-series biometric passport and matching national ID card, introduced on 3 November. The new travel document aligns with ICAO specifications and is being produced domestically following a government modernisation drive at state printer Uchkun OJSC.

Saudi Arabia’s new Foreign Property Ownership Law, set to take effect in January 2026, represents a landmark in the Kingdom’s digital ID transformation – as it depends almost entirely on an electronic identity infrastructure for its implementation.

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.

Since 1 July, Bernd Kümmerle has been serving as Chief Executive Officer of Veridos, a global leader in secure identity solutions. With nearly 30 years of experience at Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), he brings deep industry expertise and a clear strategic vision to the role. We spoke to him about his first 100 days in office, the future of secure identity, and Veridos’ role in shaping it.

The deadline for submitting your abstract for presenting at the 2026 High Security Printing™ (HSP) EMEA conference, taking place in Rabat, Morocco from 9-11 February 2026, is fast approaching. High Security Printing™ EMEA is the leading forum for banknotes, passports, ID cards and secure documents across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Published for the Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) community, this peer-reviewed volume is a record of the 2025 conference held in Warsaw, Poland, from 16-17 September. The conference was organised by Reconnaissance International with guidance from the ODDS Technical Committee. The proceedings offer a concise, authoritative snapshot of the field, with contributions from industry, academia and government.

At the ICAO TRIP Symposium in Montreal this year, TOPPAN Security introduced CHROMA, a laser-based colour personalisation technology that aims to remove the longstanding trade-off between portrait quality and document security in polycarbonate identity documents. With claims to be the first laser system to deliver full-colour, photo-realistic portraits engraved within a polycarbonate body, CHROMA is targeted at passports, ID cards and other government-issued credentials.

Two announcements in October highlight how differently the US and Europe are approaching digital identity.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Passport photos are a prime target for fraud. Veridos’ technology makes it possible to add virtually tamperproof, razor-sharp, lifelike colour images to passports.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

On 18 August 2025, the Texas Department of Public Safety initiated issuance of redesigned driving licences and ID cards, incorporating several high security features aimed at enhancing counterfeit resistance and reinforcing public safety.

Travel technology is advancing rapidly, with companies like Veridos complementing secure travel documents with digital solutions to streamline border crossings. ‘Virtual’ ePassports – digital credentials stored on secure mobile platforms – are emerging as a digital complement to traditional physical passports, rather than a replacement. While full replacement has not yet been realised or intended, these digital alternatives offer users more freedom of choice and enable identity verification, biometric integration, and global interoperability without physical booklets, enhancing travel efficiency and security for a connected world.

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.

In September 2020, ID & Secure Document News™ reported on the award of the contract for the European Union’s Shared Biometric Matching System (sBMS) to the consortium of IDEMIA and Sopra Steria. At that time, the project was positioned as a cornerstone of the EU’s interoperability framework, designed to provide centralised biometric services across multiple Justice and Home Affairs systems; including the Visa Information System (VIS), the Schengen Information System (SIS) and the then-upcoming Entry/Exit System (EES).

Veridos GmbH has officially signed a contract with Nepal’s Department of Passports (DoP) for the production of biometric passports, following an international competitive tendering process. The agreement, announced at the end of July, covers Package 2 of the project—comprising the supply of secure ePassport booklets, personalisation infrastructure, quality control systems, and packaging.

Chester Racecourse, acknowledged by Guinness World Records as the oldest operational racecourse in the world, has implemented a digital ticketing system using HID’s Event Management Platform (EMP).

I don’t know whether, like me, you saw a latex face mask staring back at you from a display cabinet at Identity Week Europe, Amsterdam? I had to explore further.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reintroduced a sweeping biometric data collection rule aimed at expanding surveillance across all national borders. Originally drafted under the first Trump administration, the revised regulation mandates facial recognition scans and other biometric captures from virtually all non-US citizens upon entry and exit – including children.

Kenya has launched its next-generation electronic passport, developed in partnership with Veridos, featuring enhanced security architecture and a design framework aligned with national representation.

At the High Security Printing™ (HSP) Latin America conference (9-11 June 2025), an exclusive physical ‘event passport’ was introduced for participants.

Driving digital transformation, Ms Selamawit Dawit has played a pivotal role in elevating Ethiopia’s global presence and modernising its public services. Now serving as Director General of Ethiopia’s Immigration and Citizenship Services (ICS), she brings a wealth of experience from diplomacy, public administration, and policy leadership, having previously served as Director General of the Diaspora Agency and State Minister of Tourism.

‘This is the dawn of the second decade in our pursuit of Identity for All in Africa,’ declared Dr Joseph Atick, Executive Chairman of ID4Africa, in his opening address at the Movement’s 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The programme for the 2025 Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) conference (15-17 September, Warsaw) has now been finalised, reaffirming its position as the definitive technical forum for physical, digital, and virtual document security. Built by a globally respected technical committee, the agenda spans eight themed sessions and offers a balance of discovery science, applied innovation, and real-life applications.

Digital transformation affects all areas of life, including identity documents. The debate as to whether physical ID documents should be phased out in favour of fully digital solutions is still continuing, but has recently lost some of its verve, and for good reason. From a security perspective, and from a merely practical viewpoint, for many use cases, physical identity documents remain irreplaceable. They are, and will continue to be, the anchor of trust for establishing a person’s identity.

While identity documents and secure credentials form the majority of the content in this newsletter, ID & Secure Document News™ also has a remit to cover the use of technology to provide an identity to the products that we consume. As the digital infrastructure of the EU evolves, the Digital Product Passport (DPP) is emerging as a core regulatory instrument for product traceability and lifecycle data.

As the rollout of mobile driving licences (mDLs) gathers momentum across the US, a parallel movement in the opposite direction is questioning the privacy implications of these digital credentials. Spearheaded by the ‘No Phone Home’ campaign, privacy advocates are mounting a challenge to what they see as a creeping erosion of civil liberties.

While identity documents and secure credentials form the majority of the content in this newsletter, ID & Secure Document News™ also has a remit to cover the use of technology to provide an identity to the products that we consume. As the digital infrastructure of the EU evolves, the Digital Product Passport (DPP) is emerging as a core regulatory instrument for product traceability and lifecycle data.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is making a renewed effort to expand biometric surveillance at national borders, reviving a rule initially proposed under the first Trump administration. The rule mandates the collection of facial images and other biometric identifiers from nearly all non-US citizens entering or exiting the country, including minors.

The US Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate (DHS S&T) has launched the ID document authenticity track of the Remote Identity Validation Rally (RIVR), following its 2023–2024 evaluation of remote identity verification systems at the Maryland Test Facility. The earlier Remote Identity Validation Technology Demonstration (RIVTD) trials revealed significant variability in document authentication performance, particularly when validating state-issued IDs captured via smartphones or webcams under uncontrolled conditions.

The debate around biometric authentication continues to evolve, driven not only by technical innovation and operational efficiency, but increasingly by questions of privacy, data stewardship and consumer trust. A recent $1.4 billion settlement between Google and the state of Texas has once again spotlighted the fragility of public confidence in biometric systems – and how quickly that confidence can be eroded when privacy safeguards fail.

Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) has signed a share transfer agreement to acquire a 75% stake in Rubicon SEZC, the Cayman Islands-based holding company of the Laxton group.

In an article recently published in Securing Industry, Dr Mark Deakes, chair of the new International Optical Technologies Association (IOTA), sets out how optical technologies are spearheading efforts to protect identity documents.

The High Security Printing™ (HSP) Latin America 2025 conference was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 9-11 June. As a regional event dedicated to government-issued identity documents, banknotes, and secure document printing, it brought together key public and private sector stakeholders across Latin America. The identity stream of the event focused on the pressing challenges and innovations shaping civil ID and travel document security in the region.

Over the past year, I have found myself returning to a recurring theme: the transition from physical to digital identity is inevitable, but that transition is not without cost. With the growth of electronic identification (eID) systems comes a shift in both the nature and scale of identity-enabled financial crime.

In recent years, the digitalisation of services has become a key area of focus for governments and businesses alike. With digitalisation comes an increasing reliance on digital interactions, and it is therefore becoming paramount for individuals to possess secure, accessible, and verifiable digital identity credentials.

A Korean technology startup has developed what is believed to be the world’s first smartphone-based solution capable of simultaneously capturing facial and fingerprint biometrics using the built-in front and rear cameras of a mobile device. The innovation, created by WINNING.I, enables fully contactless multimodal biometric authentication through a single application, removing the need for additional hardware or multi-step user procedures.

The Regional Banknote and ID Document of the Year Awards form part of the industry’s High Security Printing™ (HSP) Latin America conference. This year’s event was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with the awards presented at a special ceremony during the conference dinner on 10 June, on top of the iconic Sugarloaf Mountain.

The Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) has announced the introduction of a new identity document for asylum seekers in the second half of 2025. Revealed at Identity Week in Amsterdam, the new ID card aligns with updated ICAO standards for vertically oriented identity cards. This layout allows for a significantly larger portrait image, improving manual identity verification by frontline officials.

The US Inland Revenue Service (IRS) has not been independently evaluating the digital identity proofing services provided by ID.me, its exclusive vendor for access to sensitive taxpayer services. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the IRS is relying solely on ID.me’s internal performance assessments, with no external verification or established performance benchmarks.

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has issued a public reminder that retail membership cards — including those issued by Costco, a US-based warehouse club and wholesale retailer — do not constitute valid identity documents for use at airport security checkpoints.

A Korean technology startup has developed what is believed to be the world’s first smartphone-based solution capable of simultaneously capturing facial and fingerprint biometrics using the built-in front and rear cameras of a mobile device. The innovation, created by WINNING.I, enables fully contactless multimodal biometric authentication through a single application, removing the need for additional hardware or multi-step user procedures.

Set in the historic and vibrant city of Warsaw, Poland (15-17 September), the Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) 2025 conference continues its mission of showcasing the most advanced research, innovation, and debate in the field of document protection.

The recent power blackout across the Iberian Peninsula gave a stark reminder that electricity powers our lives — and particularly our digital lives. Behind the headlines about the increased frequency of energy infrastructure failures lies a critical question for the industry: what happens to our digital identity systems when the power goes out?

Following the ID4Africa 2024 AGM in Cape Town, Nicola Sudan from Reconnaissance interviewed Dr Joseph Atick, co-founder and Executive Chair of ID4Africa. The interview, for ID & Secure Document News™, covered a range of topics, including Dr Atick’s pioneering work in biometrics, the origins and growth of ID4Africa, the challenges and progress of digital identity systems across Africa, and the need for depoliticising identity programmes (see IDN November 2024).

In April 2025, the Republic of Suriname officially introduced its new ePassport, designed to meet international security and durability standards for travel documents. The project was delivered in partnership with OSD International, a global provider of secure identity solutions.

It won’t come as a surprise to readers of ID & Secure Document News™ that the global digital identity market is entering a phase of accelerated growth, with spending projected to increase from $15.2 billion in 2024 to over $26 billion by 2029, according to Juniper Research.

The future of ID cards, passports and driving licences is mobile. But the path to full digitisation still involves overcoming many challenges. At the heart of these challenges is the need to build trust with citizens.

A recent online article from Maryia Valchanina, Head of Data Processing at Regula, sheds light on one of the lesser-discussed challenges in the field of document authentication: the verification of professional identity documents.

In an article recently published in Securing Industry, Dr Mark Deakes, chair of the new International Optical Technologies Association (IOTA), sets out how optical technologies are spearheading efforts to protect identity documents.

Holographic features have long played a vital role in optical document security—grabbing attention, signaling authenticity, and giving visual verification. But as design trends shift and digital solutions take a larger role, it’s time to reassess their impact.

After nearly two decades of delays, the US is set to enforce the REAL ID Act on 7 May 2025. This legislation, passed in 2005 in response to the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, aims to standardise the issuance of state identification documents to enhance national security. However, its implementation has been fraught with challenges, including logistical hurdles, political resistance, and privacy concerns.

Biometric authentication traditionally relies on single identifiers like fingerprints or facial scans. However, these can be spoofed or altered by ageing, injury, or illness.

The spotlight is on innovation for optical security features in ID and secure document protection, as entries open for the inaugural ‘Excellence in Optical Technologies Awards’.

The programme has been published for the High Security Printing™ (HSP) Latin America conference, which returns 9-11 June to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – the location for the inaugural event back in 2012.

During the lockdowns that typified the COVID pandemic, there was a roughly two-year period during which it was only under very special circumstances that a person could leave their house to visit a government office, a bank or cross a border. This accelerated the requirement for validating someone’s identity remotely. Of course, this ‘person-not-present’ form of ID authentication was prevalent and growing before 2020, but the pandemic accelerated its acceptance.

A significant shift is underway for Europe’s motorists, as the European Union advances plans to introduce digital driving licences. These mobile licences, accessible via smartphones, will complement traditional physical licences, offering a more flexible and interoperable identity solution across Europe.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) provides globally recognised specifications for machine-readable travel documents (MRTDs), including national identity cards. As digital identity becomes central to secure border control and civil verification systems, the layout and design of ID cards – particularly their orientation – have gained attention.

Estonia has ceased to recognise Russian non- biometric foreign passports, a move that directly impacts the eligibility of Russian citizens seeking entry or visas. As announced by Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, from 31 March 2025, holders of non- biometric Russian passports are no longer permitted to enter Estonia nor apply for an Estonian Schengen visa.

In today’s digital world, where secure authentication is a growing priority, the digitisation of documents appears to be an attractive solution to meet administrative and personal identification needs. However, this transition significantly impacts the handling of birth certificates and early- age identity management, exposing them to evolving risks, especially as scammers continue to develop more sophisticated tactics.

On 15 April, Peru’s National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (RENIEC) officially introduced the DNI 3.0 electronic national identity card.

A recent online article from Maryia Valchanina, Head of Data Processing at Regula, sheds light on one of the lesser-discussed challenges in the field of document authentication—the verification of professional identity documents. Unlike conventional passports or national ID cards, which benefit from widespread standardisation and well-established verification protocols, these specialised documents often exist in a fragmented regulatory landscape.

The European Commission has opened a public consultation on 12 new Implementing Acts that will define the technical and legal framework for the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet, as established under Regulation (EU) 2024/1183. Running from 15 April to 13 May 2025, the consultation focuses on trust services, interoperability, and security standards essential for the deployment of the EUDI Wallet across Member States.

Veridos GmbH, a joint venture of the Security Tech Group Giesecke+Devrient and the Bundesdruckerei Group, has announced a change in the management board.

From 11 April 2025, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will begin enforcing a regulation that requires all non-US citizens aged 18 and over to carry physical documentation confirming that they have registered their identity with DHS. This policy, detailed in the Interim Final Rule published in the Federal Register, is a renewed application of provisions within the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and is aimed at strengthening immigration enforcement through biometric and document-based identity verification.

The European Union (EU) is making significant progress in its digital identity initiatives, reinforcing its commitment to standardising digital identification systems across member states. These efforts aim to enhance security within the region, with various countries implementing advanced digital ID solutions.

The technical committee of the Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) conference, which takes place in Warsaw, Poland from 15-17 September 2025, has now completed its judging of the abstracts submitted for the conference.

The ongoing digitisation of personal identification demands reliable solutions for secure identification. Mobile IDs have proven to provide a simple verification method via mobile devices. Despite its growing popularity, many use cases for this technology remain largely unexplored. In this article, Veridos’ CEO, Marc-Julian Siewert reveals the full potential of mobile IDs.

In just five years, TOPPAN Security has emerged as a real force in the global identity solutions market. Backed by TOPPAN, one of the world’s largest technology companies, TOPPAN Security has made strategic acquisitions and tactical moves, notably expanding its footprint in Africa. With the recent launch of the new Ethiopian ePassport, the ongoing construction of a state-of- the-art facility in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the recent acquisition of Citizen Identity Solutions from HID, the company is clearly on an upward trajectory.

In March, government authorities and agencies, along with security printing companies and technology providers, gathered in Milan, Italy for Intergraf Currency+Identity 2025. By providing an open platform for an exchange of ideas amongst innovators and users of ID and secure documents, the conference provided insights into emerging trends and challenges in the passport, ID card, and digital identity domains.

If you started reading this in anticipation of a definitive answer on how digital and physical ID documents can co-exist, I should apologise. It’s actually a personal look at how I might go about reasserting my identity in the event of a major crisis. But like many thought-experiments, you can learn a lot when you stress-test your ideas in extreme circumstances.

The PQC4eMRTD (Post-Quantum Cryptography for electronic Machine- Readable Travel Documents) project is a European initiative launched on 28 February, aimed at enhancing the security of electronic machine-readable travel documents (eMRTDs), such as electronic passports, against emerging threats posed by advances in quantum computing.

On 17 February 2025, Cameroon launched a new generation biometric ID card system. The rollout, managed by German tech firm Augentic under a 15-year contract with Cameroon’s General Delegation for National Security (DGSN) began with online pre-enrolment, followed by physical enrolment in regional capitals. The new system aims to issue national identity cards within 48 hours of application.

Capturing biometric data has traditionally been a time-consuming and labour-intensive process, requiring significant staff intervention, multiple touchpoints, and presenting a heightened risk of human error. Today, the deployment of advanced enrolment kiosks has transformed these tasks, automating each step of data collection and verification to improve efficiency and accuracy.

Biometric authentication traditionally relies on single identifiers like fingerprints or facial scans. However, these can be spoofed or altered by ageing, injury, or illness. To counter this, researchers are embracing biometric fusion, which combines multiple biometric inputs — including facial geometry, fingerprints, voice, and even behavioural patterns — to validate identity with greater certainty. A recent article on Data Science Central, explores how emerging techniques in data science are driving these systems forward.

The 2025 Thales Digital Trust Index reveals a noticeable decline in global consumer trust across digital services. The study, encompassing over 14,000 consumers across 14 countries, indicates that no sector achieved a trust rating greater than 50%, underscoring widespread scepticism towards personal data handling practices in the digital domain.

Orell Füssli (OF) has reported significant organic growth in its security printing and identity documents activities, reinforcing its position in secure document production. The company’s focus on expanding its core business without acquisitions has allowed it to achieve steady and sustainable progress, driven by strategic initiatives and increased demand for its products.

At the recent High Security Printing™ EMEA conference in Basel, Switzerland, Dr Alexander Brannan from the University of Manchester, and Gary Spinks of Security Fibres UK, presented advances in colour-changing smart materials designed for rapid authentication. This technology addresses key issues in anticounterfeiting by integrating academic research with industrial application.

The Malawian government has formalised a 5-year contract valued at roughly $30 million with Madras Security Printers (MSP) Private Limited, an Indian firm specialising in security printing and eGovernment solutions. This agreement aims to enhance the nation's passport issuance system by addressing previous inefficiencies and security vulnerabilities.

The global security print landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, and, in its wake, there are two extremes of skills shortage.

Spectra Systems, a US provider of secure transaction technologies, has announced that its security printing division, Cartor Security Printers, has secured a five-year contract to produce postage stamps for an undisclosed postal supplier within the European Union.

Facial recognition, as a technology, is becoming more common, finding applications for law enforcement, border management and commercial enterprise. However, this has raised concerns about how it is being used and whether clear rules exist to govern it.

The PQC4eMRTD (Post-Quantum Cryptography for electronic Machine-Readable Travel Documents) project is a European initiative launched on 28 February, aimed at enhancing the security of electronic machine-readable travel documents (eMRTDs), such as electronic passports, against emerging threats posed by advances in quantum computing.

With the announcement this month from Microsoft that it has successfully fabricated its first quantum processor based on a novel material known as a ‘topological conductor’, the ID and secure document market faces a critical challenge: ensuring the security of cryptographic systems against potential quantum threats.

The Regional Banknote and ID Document of the Year Awards form part of the industry’s High Security Printing™ (HSP) EMEA conference. This year’s event was held in Basel, Switzerland, with the awards presented at a special ceremony during the conference dinner on 4 February 2025.

The 2025 edition of the High Security Printing™ (HSP) EMEA conference was located, for the first time in its history, in Switzerland, in the picturesque city of Basel. The experience for the 265 delegates, almost 40% of whom came from central banks, government ministries and issuing authorities, did not disappoint, as was evidenced by the overwhelmingly positive feedback from the survey at the conclusion of this three-day event (3-5 February).

If you only read media reports, it would be easy to assume that the most significant advances in identity document security stem from digital innovation, with biometric verification, blockchain-based identity management, and digital certificates dominating discussions.

Data both allows and creates questions. Answering questions generates information. Information allows decisions and actions. Without accurate, relevant, reliable, consistent, standardised and timely data, creating and delivering anything is hard, particularly change.

IDEMIA Secure Transactions (IST) has pioneered the use of patented thermo-reactive Liquid Crystal Ink in payment cards, adapting a technology previously used in the fashion industry. This advanced material science innovation enables the ink to transition from black to a dynamic multicolour display when exposed to temperature changes.

Facial recognition, as a technology, is becoming more common, finding applications for law enforcement, border management and commercial enterprise. However, this has raised concerns about how it is being used and whether clear rules exist to govern it. To address this, the Biometrics Institute, an organisation that studies the responsible use of biometrics, recently published a report called ‘Members’ Viewpoints: The Use of Facial Recognition in Policing.’

Spectra Systems Corporation, a Rhode Island-based provider of secure transaction technologies, has announced that its security printing division, Cartor Security Printers, has secured a 5-year contract to produce postage stamps for an undisclosed postal supplier within the European Union. The agreement is expected to generate revenue of between $3 million and $4 million over its duration.

In its final days, the Biden administration prepared an executive order that emphasises the use of digital identity technologies, such as mobile driving licences (mDLs), to enhance identity verification for public benefit programmes.

The debate over national ID cards in the UK has been going on for years, with various initiatives failing in overcoming public resistance to the idea (see IDN September 2020). But despite the lack of a formal national ID card, the UK has effectively adopted digital identity systems that serve the same purpose.

The Batam Centre seaport in Indonesia is one of southeast Asia’s busiest and most complex border crossing points. Situated at the intersection of Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia, Batam Centre serves as a vital conduit for international travelers and trade. With approximately 4.2 million passengers moving through Batam’s domestic and international ferry terminals in the first half of 2024, the location is a linchpin to regional connectivity.

The US ‘Bridge’ visa sticker replaced the ‘Lincoln’ visa design in July 2023, with both versions remaining valid until their printed expiration. An updated design of the Bridge visa has now been issued.

For years, proof of identity relied solely on physical documents like passports or driving licences. However, the rise of new technologies has ushered in a wave of digital alternatives that offer greater convenience and security. Veridos, a leading provider of identity solutions, has identified four key technologies driving the evolution of digital identities.

Regula, a developer of forensic devices and identity verification solutions, has unveiled the ForensicScope Regula 4125, a portable ID document scanner designed to detect face morphing, a sophisticated method of identity fraud that poses significant challenges to biometric systems.

A new and alarming threat to identity verification systems has emerged, as researchers at iProov1 have uncovered an operation known as ‘identity farming’.

The secure document and identity sector is going through a period of significant change, driven by mergers and acquisitions that I covered throughout 2024. As we start a new year, I want to take a step back and consider not just the headlines but the historical events and strategic thinking behind them.

The Optical & Digital Document Security™ conference (15-17 September 2025 in Warsaw, Poland) is regarded as THE technical conference for physical, digital and virtual document security.

Sri Lanka has embarked on an ambitious digital transformation project with the introduction of the Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI) programme. This initiative aims to replace the country’s traditional physical identification card system with a digital ID infrastructure, modernising identity verification and access to services for its citizens.

On 13 January 2025, DREWSEN SPEZIALPAPIERE, a German leader in the production of specialty and security papers, announced the acquisition of UK-based PORTALS PAPER Ltd, a well-known producer of high-security papers for passports and identity documents. This union merges the complementary strengths of two companies with rich traditions in secure papermaking, marking a significant development in the field of identity and counterfeit protection.

In its final days, the Biden administration is preparing an executive order that emphasises the use of digital identity technologies, such as mobile driving licences (mDLs), to enhance identity verification for public benefit programmes.