Archive - Year 2003

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Government shares experience in Smart ID Card development
04 - 09 - 2003

The Government has utilised smart-card technology to develop a secure, multi-application Smart Identity (ID) Card for the public, the Director of Information Technology Services, Mr Alan Wong Chi-kong, said today (September 4).

Speaking at the 8th Annual Conference and Exhibition - Cards Australasia 2003 in Melbourne, Australia, Mr Wong shared with the participants Hong Kong's experience in developing the Smart ID Card launched in June.

The Smart ID Card programme commenced in 2001. The main objectives of the programme are to replace the existing paper ID card and to introduce multiple value-added applications for the convenience of the card holder, Mr Wong said.

Fourteen government bureaus and departments participated in the programme and over 100 information technology (IT) professionals were involved at the peak period of the development.

The Information Technology Services Department is responsible for the overall management of the programme, co-ordinating all cross-agency issues and developing a cross-departmental IT infrastructure.

The computer system to support the issue of Smart ID Card was put into use on June 23 this year. The replacement exercise for all eligible Hong Kong citizens started on August 18 and is expected to complete in four years.

To ensure that the card is secure, a number of features have been introduced both on the card's surface and in the chip.

For instance, laser-engraving technology is used for printing the personal data including a digital photo on the card face, making it difficult to alter or remove.

To further safeguard the data in the chip which is a replicate of the personal data on the card face together with the digital thumbprint templates, authentication between the ID card and the reading device is required every time the data in the chip is retrieved.

The chip is tamper-resistant and equipped with an active shield and integrated hardware alarms to protect it from different types of attack. Data erasure will be activated if the chip is tampered with mechanically, electrically or electronically.

Mr Wong said that by making use of the secure data management capability of the smart-card technology, the Government was also introducing value-added multiple applications on the Smart ID Card.

With the presence of digital thumbprint templates on the card, the Government plans to implement automated passenger and vehicle clearance at border points using the Smart ID Card in late 2004. This will help handle the increasing number of cross-border passengers with unmanned passage counters.

For additional convenience, citizens can choose to use their ID cards as library cards, through a simple registration process.

Mr Wong said citizens could also choose to include a digital certificate in their Smart ID Cards, which would enable them to conduct e-business transactions securely anytime, anywhere. This option is entirely voluntary, and the subscription to the certificate is free of charge for the first year. The availability of this option is widely seen as a boost to e-business development in Hong Kong.

To cater for the increasing number of Smart ID Cards and digital certificate holders, self-service kiosks have been installed at all Immigration Department offices to enable citizens to check the data on their ID cards.

In addition, more than 600 public kiosks and computers in MTR stations, shopping centers, post offices, public libraries, and community centers throughout Hong Kong have been enhanced with smart card readers for the convenience of citizens.

The ID card replacement programme for the 6.8 million Hong Kong residents will create a critical mass of digital certificate holders, Mr Wong said. This will encourage the use of digital certificates and further development of e-government and e-commerce applications, thus encouraging more e-transactions, he added.

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