Month: March 2023

Smiths Detection is collaborating with SeeTrue, a supplier of artificial intelligence threat detection software, to integrate its threat products with Smiths Detection’s leading X-ray screening equipment.

The move is part of Smiths Detection’s ongoing Ada Initiative that seeks to accelerate the adoption of open architecture (OA) across aviation, ports and borders, defense and urban security. Hardware, software and algorithms from different product suppliers can be plugged together using OA, enhancing security outcomes.

Currently, Smiths Detection offers a variety of automatic threat detection algorithms that can be integrated into its X-ray screening equipment and recognizes that with an increasing choice of digital technology partners, customers should have the assurance that third-party technologies operate seamlessly with our own devices.

“By collaborating with partners such as SeeTrue through our open architecture initiative, we’re able to offer our customers a greater choice of solutions that have the potential to enhance their security systems and capabilities,” said Cymoril Metivier, global director digital at Smiths Detection.

Assaf Frenkel, co-founder and CEO of SeeTrue, said: “SeeTrue is excited to partner with Smiths Detection, which has one of the largest footprints for security screening technology worldwide. Open architecture is vital in the transition to CT. This partnership gives customers the freedom of choice in detection software, X-Ray and CT machines.”

On Jan. 31, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport hosted a news conference with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and first lady Marty Kemp, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, local law enforcement officials, the UPS Foundation and youthSpark, an organization that works with vulnerable children, to highlight ways to intervene in human trafficking within the aviation industry.

The Riyadh Airports Company has also implemented the Smart Travel Journey experiment at King Khalid International Airport where passengers will be recognized by their digital faceprint without the need for the boarding pass.

The SITA Smart Path solution enables efficient biometric enrollment, as passengers will become their own boarding passes just by looking at SITA FacePod’s camera. The passenger’s face becomes their boarding pass.

The airport hopes the SITA-assisted aircraft boarding will reduce the boarding time by at least 20%, in addition to speeding up the process and maximizing security.

The airport considers this an important step to convert the Riyadh airport into a smart airport and maximize customer satisfaction.

Beginning this year, passengers traveling through Frankfurt Airport (Fraport) will be able to scan their faces at biometric touchpoints across the airport. This solution will be rolled out and available to all interested airlines at the airport.

The implementation will see additional biometric touchpoints installed by spring 2023. From enrollment at a kiosk or counter, to pre-security automated gates and self-boarding gates, passengers can use biometric technology to pass through each stage of the journey by simply scanning their face.

SITA calls the project “groundbreaking” in the development of digital travel by providing a true common-use biometric platform at all Fraport terminals, open to all airlines operating at the airport. It combines day of travel enrollment, Star Alliance Biometrics and additional biometric hubs under the umbrella of the SITA Smart Path platform.

For Lufthansa passengers specifically, thanks to the integration of SITA Smart Path with Star Alliance Biometrics, the technology makes use of the biometric identities of Lufthansa passengers enrolled on Star Alliance’s platform, enabling seamless identification of passengers without additional process steps across multiple participating airports and airlines.

This implementation plays a key part in paving the way for the rollout of biometrics across Star Alliance’s global network, as it endeavors to have more of its 26 member carriers using biometric technology progressively. Key learnings from the Fraport project will be considered for further implementations across the network.

The NEC I:Delight digital identity management platform, which is fully integrated with SITA Smart Path, ranked number one several times as the world’s most accurate face recognition technology in vendor tests conducted by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It allows passengers who have opted to use the service to be identified quickly and accurately, even on the move. Passengers who do not wish to use the solution can check in using a traditional check-in counter.

“Emerging from the pandemic, passengers are embracing technology to boost efficiency and place them in control of their travel,” said Dr. Pierre Dominique Prümm, member of the executive board and executive director aviation and infrastructure, Fraport. “We are extremely excited to be able to transform the experience for all our passengers across all terminals and carriers with one simple, intuitive solution. We also value that SITA and NEC’s innovative technology allows our infrastructure to be truly future proof, with the capacity to grow with us as industry demands and travel patterns shift.”

Jason Van Sice, vice president for NEC Advanced Recognition Systems added, “We have a wealth of experience combining our technical know-how with SITA’s understanding of the air transport industry. We are proud to be upgrading Lufthansa and Fraport customers’ experience with next-generation biometric technology, and we applaud Star Alliance’s initiative to bring these benefits to its broader network.”

With the continued easing of travel restrictions, China is now gearing up for a strong post-pandemic recovery of air travel. To facilitate this recovery and power the continued growth of China’s significant domestic air travel market, the region’s airlines and airports are investing heavily in IT to streamline the passenger experience and fortify operations against disruption. This is according to SITA’s recently published 2022 Air Transport IT Insights report, which shows all of China’s leading airlines and 86% of airports expect their IT spend to remain the same or increase from 2022 to 2023.

Automating the Full Passenger Journey

SITA’s report says leading Chinese airports and airlines are investing heavily in IT across all aspects of the passenger journey, digitalizing the journey to run smoothly even with less staff support. The report says all of the region’s leading airlines intend to upgrade their core passenger management systems by 2025, with 90% also investing in self-service and touchless solutions.

China’s airports are ahead of the global curve on self-service implementation, with 80% to 100% having already implemented self-service technology across check-in, bag drop, bag tag and boarding. Touchless solutions and mobile applications for digital passenger services are also top areas of investment for 92% of airports, to further support convenience for passengers while freeing up staff to focus on other operational priorities.

Biometric identity management is a developing priority, with investment particularly in the use of biometric-powered e-gates at the border control and boarding stages. A full three-quarters of Chinese airports plan a single secure biometric token across all touchpoints by 2025, well ahead of the global average of 53%.

“It is exciting to see China embrace a return to international travel with the relaxation of border restrictions,” Sumesh Patel, president, Asia Pacific, SITA, said. “Many Chinese airports and airlines are embracing technology to quickly ramp up their passenger operations, with a commitment to digitalizing the passenger journey. In particular, the country’s airlines and airports have prioritized a single secure biometric token across all passenger touchpoints, suggesting more airports in the region will follow the example of pioneering end-to-end biometric implementations such as that of Beijing Capital Intl. Airport.”

Keeping Stakeholders Informed

Veridos is set to unveil its new security features specifically targeting the transparent window areas on ID documents: Amber ID, Diamond ID and Spectre ID.

While the trend in recent years has been to use transparent elements on polycarbonate ID documents, Veridos says it aims to further enhance these security features by adding more complexity. The goal is to produce documents that are easy to verify and at the same time difficult to duplicate. With the aim of protecting ID documents against counterfeiting, Amber ID, Diamond ID and Spectre ID are the latest in a long list of new techniques and technologies developed by Veridos in the field of document security.

Amber ID appears as a metallic, optically variable window with a positive-brilliant photo of the document owner. When backlit, the window with the motif becomes almost transparent, while in front light it looks like a golden metal leaf that turns green depending on the viewing angle. As the pigments are integrated and not printed, it is the ideal solution for a brilliant personalization in a transparent window.

The Diamond ID feature helps to unambiguously verify questionable documents. It is fully transparent in daylight, while it glows brilliant white under UV light in synergies with laser engraving, thanks to special smart colour technology developed in collaboration with C.S.T (Crime Science Technology).

Spectre ID, on the other hand, is a further development of Veridos’ Magic ID feature, which sets static images in motion. When the card is tilted, the images appear to move. Thanks to Spectre ID, this effect can now also be applied to the transparent window areas of cards and data pages in combination with the repeated holder’s image.

As the latest generation of transparent security elements, the new functions embody an evolution for ID documents. A modular system makes it possible to combine these functions. This also applies to Veridos’ “Look ID” feature, the transparent stripe, spanning the entire data page, which is used in the current passport of Latvia for example.

Thanks to the variety of options for securing transparent windows and the built-in technologies, document forgery becomes more difficult and its detection easier. Veridos’ use of polycarbonate ensures complete fusion of the plastic layers in each card, making it very difficult to manipulate materials or security attributes without leaving visible traces.

“With our new security features, we are armed with a whole range of countermeasures to address the threat of counterfeit identity documents,” explains Andreas Kuba, global vice president identity documents at Veridos. “In that way, we are helping to limit identity theft and also responding to the market demand for innovative security features for transparent elements of polycarbonte ID cards and passport data pages. In addition to pioneering new technologies for forgery-proof documents, we are focusing on their quick and easy implementation.”

In February, American military cyberspace experts joined forces with Swedish and Finnish counterparts Feb. 6-10 at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, as part of a cyberspace-technical exchange to improve partner-nation capacity in conducting defensive cyberspace operations.

The 41 military experts conducted four days of intensive trilateral information sharing at the Tacet Venari cyber range at Ramstein. Akin to operational ranges where aircraft and artillery crews test their equipment and crew capabilities, this world-class cyber range is a controlled virtual environment in which offense and defense practitioners can safely exercise tactics, techniques and procedures.

“This isn’t just about building awareness on resources and vulnerabilities,” said U.S. Army Maj. Andrew Cahan, a defensive cyberspace operations planner assigned to U.S. European Command’s Cyberspace Operations Division. “Exchanges like this give us an opportunity to build and maintain strong working relationships with our partners in Finland and Sweden.”

Hosted jointly by USEUCOM’s Cyberspace Operations Division and the Command’s Cyber Security Cooperation Branch, military cyber experts from U.S. Army Europe and Africa (USAREUR-AF), Defense Information Services Agency Europe, and USEUCOM’s Cyber Analytics cell joined Finnish and Swedish military officials to discuss best practices for network-based threat hunt tactics. Network-based hunt operations detect malicious cyber activity on U.S. and partner networks and generate insights that help bolster defense and increase the resilience of shared networks from cyber threats.

“It’s not just about securing your networks, you have to be able to actively defend them,” said Finnish Defense Forces Maj. Mikko Tuomi, a cyber-defense expert. “Engagements like this allow us to share best practices and know-how to repel versatile cyber threats.”

The event provided an opportunity for participants to cover various open-source intelligence tools and resources to enrich data for network hunt operations and overall improve cyberspace defense efforts. The trilateral exchange featured a combination of round table discussions and briefings, along with technical demonstrations from USAREUR-AF’s military cyber specialists and Finland C5 Agency’s Cyber Defense teams.

“The more we collectively share with one another, the more effective we will be in deterring adversaries from attacking our systems and defending against potential cyberattacks,” said Swedish Armed Forces Col. Thomas Höglund, deputy director Cyberdefense.

While Finland and Sweden await NATO membership, the U.S. has worked to increase defense capabilities with both nations to improve standardization and enhance interoperability across domains.