Blockchain is the next big step in automated border control systems

By Arvind Deendayalan

For decades, automated border control systems, popularly known as eGates, have been used at border crossings primarily to speed up the clearance process. A significant advantage that the system provides is that it quickly scans and verifies the identity of the travelers who enter the borders, thus limiting illegal entry to the country. This is proving effective in preventing terrorism and human trafficking to a large extent. The system is aimed at verifying the travelers’ identities through biometric parameters without physical or human intervention. This ultimately enables the organization and management of people crossing borders more effectively and efficiently.

According to Mordor Intelligence, “the automated border control market is expected to witness a CAGR of 16.25% over the forecast period (2021-2026). The increasing threat of terrorist attacks and the security standards set by international authorities that include IATA, ICAO and ACI are among the two most influential drivers sustaining the market.”

Machine-readable formats make it possible

Governments have made significant investments and implemented several innovative solutions to strengthen border security controls. A machine-readable passport (MRP) is a fundamental pillar of cross-border security. The MRP is a type of machine-readable travel document (MRTD) that has identification data encoded in optical character recognition (OCR) format.

The MRTD is an official travel document, standardized worldwide, issued by a state or organization for international travelers. This OCR-based document makes it easier for automated systems to scan the travel document, and its interoperability enables authorities to check visitors against a criminal database to limit access.

The MRTD contains a standardized format with various identification details for the traveler which includes a photo or digital image along with mandatory and optional identification elements. The mandatory elements apart from the photograph are reflected in a two or three line machine readable zone (MRZ). The MRTD standards are defined in the ICAO 9303 document published by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and have been implemented by many countries around the world. MRTD and biometric passports have significantly improved the efficiency of the border control management system.

A widely used MRTD is the Machine Readable Passport (MRP) and each MRP contains various biometric elements to identify the rightful owner. These elements include retina scans, fingerprints and facial recognition. It also has ICAO-specified features, including the MRZ and other text attributes visible on the first page of the passport.

The key problem with the current border control system is centralization. The systems are controlled by a single unit. As a result, data is not easily shared between different law enforcement agencies. This makes it quite difficult to track down suspects. Moreover, there are currently no systems available to immediately track, control, blacklist or revoke a suspect passport.

Blockchain for border security checks

Blockchain technology is proposed as an effective solution to mitigate the existing challenges of border control management. A list of blacklisted or flagged travel documents can be stored and maintained in a smart contract (one of the features of Blockchain technology). This list can be updated if necessary. Any incremental change made to this list will be immediately visible to all law enforcement agencies and border checkpoints, thereby enabling immediate control of the movement of a suspected traveler.

Arguably, traditional mechanisms such as PKIs and P2P networks can also be used to track down suspicious travelers. However, it will fall short of what Blockchain can offer.

Blockchain can simplify the entire system without complex networks and PKI setups, therefore resulting in significant cost reduction. Border control management system supported by Blockchain can provide cryptographically guaranteed immutability that helps audit and prevent fraudulent activity. A complete database of all travel documents may not be maintained or stored efficiently in a blockchain network at this time due to scalability issues. However, a distributed backend database such as BigChainDB, Interplanetary File System (IPFS) or Swarm can be a good substitute.

How to make it work?

A hash of the travel document that has the biometric ID of a person can be stored in a simple smart contract, and another hash of the same document can be used to reference detailed information available on the distributed file system such as IPFS. This ensures that when a travel document is blacklisted anywhere on the network, this information will be available immediately with a cryptographic guarantee of its authenticity and integrity throughout the distributed ledger. This functionality can effectively support counterterrorism activities, thus playing an important role in a government’s homeland security function.

A smart contract will have a defined matrix for storing individual details, their respective biometric records and other critical details for identification. These identifying details can be a hash of the MRZ of the passport or travel document paired with the biometric record obtained from the RFID chip. A simple boolean field can be used to identify blacklisted passports. Further detailed biometric verification can be done by traditional systems after the traveler has passed all the checks made by the blockchain solution. Finally, once the decision is finally made regarding the allow entry status of the traveler, it can then be propagated back to the blockchain network to inform all stakeholders on the network immediately.

Building blocks in Blockchain-based control system

A high-level approach to building a blockchain-based border control system is illustrated below, for quick understanding:

Here, the passport is initially inspected twice: once with a side scanner and once with an RFID reader. The page scanner reads the data on the page and extracts machine-readable information along with a hash of biometric data stored in the RFID chip. A live image and retina scan of the traveler are taken at the same time and stored in the database. This information is then forwarded to the blockchain network for further checking. A blockchain network smart contract will verify the legitimacy of the travel document in two steps. It will first scan through the list of blacklisted passports and then it will request more data from the backend IPFS database to complete the check for flagged passport holders. Note that biometric data such as photo or retina scans are not stored directly on the blockchain network. Instead, only a reference to this data from the backend (IPFS or BigChainDB) is stored in the blockchain.

Conclusion

To strengthen the border security control system, the gate is programmed to grant access to the traveler only if the travel document data passes two main checks. First, the data presented in the pass should match the IPFS/Bigchain DB files. Second, it should pass the logical smart contract check. If the data does not meet one or both checks, access to the port will be denied and respective authorities will be notified. After the verification process, the information is disseminated through the blockchain network and is immediately available to all stakeholders at border control. These stakeholders could be a worldwide consortium of homeland security departments from different nations.

The author is global practice leader- Blockchain, Infovision.

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