Martin Sutherland, chief executive of De La Rue, specialists in counterfeit-foiling technology told London newspaper The Times that work had begun to develop a passport that could be replicated on a smartphone that is secure enough to work at immigration control.
A spokesperson for the company said: "Technology is at the forefront of De La Rue's business, and as you would expect we are always looking at new innovations and technology solutions for our customers around the world.
"Paperless passports are one of the many initiatives that we are currently looking at, but at the moment it is a concept that is at the very early stages of development."
However, concerns are being raised over the security of smartphone-ready passports.
"A big problem is what to do when your phone is lost or stolen," Dave Jevans, mobile security expert at Proofpoint said.
"Digital passports on your phone will require new hardware on the device in order to securely store the electronic passport so it cannot be copied from the phone. It will also have to be communicated wirelessly to passport readers, because doing it onscreen like an airline ticket QR code can be copied or spoofed," Jevans is quoted as saying.
Will convenience trump security in paperless passports? #IoT #securityinsights https://t.co/99ouOjPXXa pic.twitter.com/Vid10clvBr
— Paula Francisco (@pnfrancisco) March 30, 2016
Modern passports already hold biometric information that is capable of comparing the portrait in the document with a face on a screen at border control. The challenge for developers of the 'paperless passport' will be to embed this technology into a smartphone.
In future, the last minute panic at the airport won't be whether you've remembered your passport or not — but whether you have your smartphone.
