Birth certificates and other foundational identity records can give fraudsters a route around increasingly secure passports when their personalized data is left unprotected, Troy Group’s Mark Bond warned.
Bond, the company’s Director of Sales for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific, discussed the risk in a recent ID Talk podcast conversation with sales engineer Jean Cavalier and hosts Tony Bitzionis and Alex Perala. The interview examined document fraud, Troy’s SecureDocs software, and implementation work in African document-issuance environments.
Bond described birth certificates as ‘breeder documents’: records used to support applications for passports and other identity credentials. He argued that attackers look for weaker supporting documents when the final credential becomes harder to forge.
His concern is the information added during personalization, including names, dates, serial numbers and other variable data. Security features built into blank stationery do not necessarily protect those details once they are printed.
“It’s always the personalization that’s getting attacked, and it was the personalization that, for many years, in our humble opinion, was neglected. It wasn’t really protected,” Bond said.
Troy’s SecureDocs software adds security features to that printed data. Bond described the software as printer-agnostic, allowing customers to retain existing equipment. Cavalier said deployments start with the customer’s current workflow, with the company adding its protection rather than requiring a replacement issuance process.
The company’s SecureDocs Sentry features include variable-data watermarks, microprinting and encrypted QR codes that can be checked using a smartphone. Ultraviolet features require compatible security inks or toner and printing hardware.
Cavalier described demonstrations, proofs of concept, customer-specific modifications and installations across multiple cities in Africa. Decentralized issuance offices create logistical demands, while infrastructure constraints affect the equipment and security features customers can introduce. The guests described starting with software and adding ultraviolet protection where appropriate.
Separately, African civil-registration initiatives include biometric birth-certificate issuance in Guinea’s Sanoyah municipality and digital birth certificates issued by councils in Cameroon. These records support identity systems alongside newer digital credentials.
The discussion also covered vital records, land-registry and notarial documents, and the work of explaining document-fraud risks to prospective customers. Bond described paper documents with smartphone-verifiable security features as a bridge between physical records and digital identity.
Hear the full discussion via the media player below, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
