3 ms·

Why would they make such an important key be copyable?

• lxgr 1y ago
  To be useful, that key needs to be present in countless border checkpoint or even police devices, so it's inherently very hard to keep secret. That's a known trade-off, and I believe some countries accordingly restrict access to their own national authorities (which usually already have access to that data via other means, since they're issuing the document).
  • Nextgrid 1y ago
    You wouldn't need the key to be copyable though - it can be an online check - ie. passport sends challenge, terminal sends challenge to government-hosted HSM, HSM sends response.
    • lxgr 1y ago
      Good point, but that's in the end a typical availability/security tradeoff, and I could imagine that at least some verifying authorities would rather err on the side of the former.
    • chrisandchris 1y ago
      Imagine, there are a lot of borders and pösces where duch control happens where internet is not guaranteed.
• hamburglar 1y ago
  The way computer security people and government officials understand keys and key handling practices is vastly different.