Client: Italian Ministry of Interior Challenge: Detect counterfeits among visas and passports presented at hundreds of border posts each year and quickly verify admissibility to the Italian territory. Solution: SIF, a system that uses scanning and biometrics to match security elements and fingerprints in presented documents to those in an official sample while performing a criminal background check. Results: An integrated border security system that enhances the speed and security of the immigration process for law enforcement while automating back-office workflow. Related Information Read a case study about identity security in Belgium. Learn about CSC's Border and Immigration solutions. Find out more about CSC's Award for Technical Excellence. Contact us and let our experience help you produce results.

As travel and immigration to the European Union increase each year, member countries are actively pursuing ways to better equip border control and immigration officers with the latest tools to keep unwanted visitors out.

In Italy, millions of alien documents are shown at hundreds of checkpoints monthly. Officers often compete with sophisticated criminals who can produce quality counterfeit visas and passports using the latest computer, scanning and digital photography technology.

Italy’s Ministry of Interior and CSC have developed Europe’s most comprehensive document scanning and biometric identification border control system to stem the tide.

“Security is a big issue today and Italy has a lot of immigration,” says Alberto Buonocore Caccialupi, CSC project manager. “Italy is considered one of the bridges to continental Europe from North Africa and the Middle East, and a lot of contraband is attempting to pass through our borders. We definitely need to stop as much as possible by stopping people using counterfeit documents.”

Securing the republic
Since 2005, a CSC team has been working with the ministry to build a systems integration project called Sistema Informativo Frontiere (SIF) to help screen the growing number of visitors from Africa, Asia and the Middle East, where many counterfeit documents originate.

The automated system uses a scanner and biometric technology to verify incoming documents. The technology is able to quickly check the admissibility of the document holder to the Italian territory by verifying the authenticity of the document presented while simultaneously performing a criminal background check.

“The number of people passing through our borders is increasing every day from everywhere in the world due to the fact that travel expenses are shrinking,” Caccialupi says. “But police officers do not grow at the same rate as the people coming into the country. An automatic system can improve the efficiency of the police organization.”

Examining the document
The verification process begins with a 3M passport reader that utilizes an optical scanner and infrared and ultraviolet light to read documents. Once scanned, the system compares the embedded security elements in the given document ─ often invisible to the human eye ─ to the official sample in the database.

A biometric fingerprint scanner then collects the alien’s print and compares it to the one on the document. If the document contains an electronic chip, the system will extract the data and perform an additional match to the data read from the scanner.

An interface shows a summary of the results; details of any fraud attempts are then sent across the network to other border posts in Italy. The final decision to pass the document and its holder is indicated on the screen and must be confirmed by the officer.

“This system does not substitute the border police officer, whose experience is absolutely necessary to understand if a document is counterfeit, because they can also see the kind of paper and can inspect the passport’s cover to see if it has been replaced,” Caccialupi adds. “It allows the officer to focus his attention on the document holder and his or her behavior, to try to detect people feeling uncomfortable with the inspection.”

Realizing value for the customer
In just over a year, CSC created three prototypes to test at Italy’s largest airport, Fiumicino in Rome, and two seaports in Naples and Ancona. The goal is to deliver a total system throughout the country by late 2007.

“CSC provided the required consultancy to define the business needs and selected the technology that would make the project a success,” explains Gianrico Bernabei, CSC’s application solution manager for defense and security in Italy. “CSC’s experience in the field of identity management and biometrics data management has been vital in demonstrating the feasibility of the solution and to guarantee its achievement.”

In addition to security, SIF improves back-office functions by reducing paper documents with an electronic workflow. It can produce detailed statistics of immigration and the use of scanning reduces typos in the processing of a person’s data when foreign names are difficult to read and write.

The system can also work on local databases. This is particularly applicable at remote border posts that must be able to operate when a network connection to the central service is unavailable. The architecture makes maintaining, implementing and modifying new features easier and less expensive. It also allows hardware upgrades for scanners, RFID and smart card readers to be integrated in days instead of weeks.

The Border Control System received a 2007 Award for Technical Excellence, CSC's top honor for innovation, sponsored by the Leading Edge Forum, which provides technology thought leadership for CSC.