Initially, the assumption was that cloned chips would be spotted because their key codes would not match those stored in an international database. However, only 10 of the 45 countries participating in the e-passport program have signed up to for the Public Key Directory (PKD) code system, and only five are currently using it. On top of all that, the research also suggests that biometric data could also be manipulated and implemented into fake passports.

At this point, there has been no evidence to suggest that an e-passport has been successfully cloned and passed off as genuine in a real-life situation—but it is bound to happen unless every country buys into the PKD. Even then, I still have my doubts about long-term security. We all know that it's only a matter of time before someone figures out how to manipulate the system. [Times Online]

The CCC got its hands on Schauble's prints thanks to a sympathiser, who scarpered with a glass used by the minister during a panel discussion and handed it over to the hackers. Dirk Engling, a spokesman for CCC, defended the group's actions, claiming it was a warning shot, and that fingerprints "certainly [did] not [belong] in the e-Pass."

Along with Minister Schauble's fingerprint, the group also published a wish-list of other politicians whose biometric data they'd like to get their mitts on—including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the Prime Minister of Bavaria, Guenther Beckstein—as well as a guide on how to capture someone's fingerprints from a glass successfully.

The lawyer hired by the CCC sees it like this: "If journalists and citizens were to do what the government is doing—that is, the collection and use of biometric data—then the prosecutor would be knocking at their doors." Meanwhile, a po-faced spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry, refused to rule out legal action against the fingerprint-stealing hackers. [Heise online via Slashdot]

While the gold bars and circle marking your passport as a magical "e-passport" are on the front cover, the chip is embedded somewhere on the back page. To alleviate fears of skimming the chip's info, it only works within four inches of a reader—the cover contains shielding material—and the passports use Basic Access Control, which requires a printed PIN to read the chip, which seems like a pretty good idea.

That said, no one can skim my plain paper passport, which is thankfully good for another seven years. – Matt Buchanan

Stars and Stripes, Wrapped in the Same Old Blue [NYT]
The U.S. Electronic Passport [State Department]