Nets Passport Reader: Bridging the gap between physical ID documents and digital identification

Nets Passport Reader bridges the gap between physical ID documents and digital identification, with the help of a smartphone app.

Nets Passport Reader

Nets introduces a completely new way to identify customers securely from a distance. The Nets Passport Reader service bridges the gap between physical ID documents and digital identification, with the help of a simple smartphone app. The service has no geographical limitations and is compatible with passports from over 130 countries.

Demand for digital identification is growing rapidly and will likely only increase, given the current worldwide focus on social distancing. The Nets Passport Reader offers a simple, easy-to-use and secure way to authenticate a person remotely, even without an electronic ID.

This will create new possibilities for banks, companies and societies to provide secure access to sensitive data. It can also initiate customer onboarding for Know Your Customer-related tasks more flexibly without the need for an eID or face-to-face contact.

“The Nordic countries are front runners when it comes to the use of digital identification, both in the public and private sectors. Nets plays a key part in the Nordic digital societies, for example by hosting the national eID services both in Denmark and Norway.

“The Nets Passport Reader offers a new secure and frictionless method of digital identification for use in many different scenarios, ranging from the needs of public officials to private companies.” comments Kai Olshausen, Senior Business Manager, Nets.

The reader is now being utilised by the Norwegian authorities to address a variety of identification needs for people who don’t yet possess a Norwegian eID.

“The use of the Nets Passport Reader has enabled a secure way to remotely authenticate people who need access to online public services,” says Stig Slaatto-Hornnes, Product Manager, the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency.

“Thanks to the successful collaboration between Nets and the Norwegian authorities, we have established a digital onboarding process for our MyID service in a short period of time. This is especially important at a time where physical attendance is not an option and it will also give us invaluable experience for future initiatives.”

Simple and secure

When it comes to digital identification, security is paramount. The reader is part of Nets’ existing authentication services, which operate with extremely high security standards.

The easy-to-use Nets Passport Reader app has multiple security layers for secure and accurate identification of the person and validation of the passport. In practice, the app is used both for reading the information in the chip of the passport and liveliness detection with the camera.

In the future, the Nets Passport Reader will be extended to support the digital signing of documents.

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