Entrust Strengthens Global Leadership Role
in ePassport Technology With Support for
Master List Signing - 8th April, 2009
Entrust to present ePassport capabilities at Nigerian ICAO event
DALLAS, - Just six months after an impressive showing at the ePassports EAC Conformity &
Interoperability Tests in Prague, Czech Republic, Entrust, Inc. aims to further strengthen its
global leadership position. The ePassport security expert will express strong support for the
creation of Master List Signing during this week's ICAO Regional Seminar on Machine
Readable Travel Documents (MRTDs), Biometrics and Security Standards in Abuja, Nigeria.
"While full adoption of Master List creation and signing is still on the horizon, its benefits are too
important to ignore," said Entrust President and CEO Bill Conner. "We fully support this initiative
— so much so, Entrust has enabled a Master List Signing certificate profile within the upcoming
release of our proven ePassport security solution. This will enable our customers to strategically
develop their Master List Signing capabilities from a trusted security partner."
In development by the ICAO, the Master Signing List is a simple method to reduce expensive,
time-consuming duplication that exists in the current ePassport verification process. Once a
certain number of countries have imported the signature verification keys from a number of
issuing countries, a level of assurance develops in the veracity of the verif ication keys. If they
then publish those keys in Master Lists, a third country can import the Master Lists -- along with
the verification keys of those countries that signed them -- and validate them with an
understanding that there has already been some assurance established in the keys on the
Master Lists.
With the judicious application of import rules, the third country can achieve the required level of
assurance in the authenticity of some or all of those keys -- without incurring the full expense,
time-delay and inconvenience of indepe