Question NW826 to the Minister of Home Affairs

Reply:

(a)& (b)

The following systems and precautionary measures are in place to prevent the involvement of officials of his department in identity theft:

• In terms of the Departments’ Information Security Policy, a model built around proactive risk assessment and risk management, Biometric Access Control Management (BACM) system is in place, that all officials responsible for capturing transactions on the National Population Register system within the domain of the organization, are assigned with biometric fingerprint authentication, to detect and hold users liable for fraudulent activities and information stored digitally, at any point in the Department systems.

• The Department in 2013 introduced and implemented the Live Capture system aimed at eliminating manual intervention by users, resulting in reduction of error rate and streamlining of business process for the issuance of Smart Identity Cards and Passports to citizens. The Department has also rolled out the system to 206 modernised offices. The Smart ID Card is engraved with security features that cannot be easily tampered with to prevent identity theft and fraud.

• Furthermore, the Live Capture system entails an online verification feature whereby any member of a public is verified against the Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS), when applying for enabling documents. Similarly, the banks that offer Home Affairs services, have online verification whereby they can verify the legitimacy of client’s fingerprints as they are linked to departmental systems

• The Department reassessed the current business processes to close gaps identified within the passport application process. The department periodically reviews the passport security features in line with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Standards.

END