BiometricsSITA helps Indonesia track 20 million biometric identities

SITA, an international supplier of technology solutions for air transportation, is in the midst of helping Indonesia implement a biometric scanning system for all visiting foreigners.

SITA has already installed its BioThenticate system at Jakarta’s at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and is currently expanding the program to include nine airports across the country as well as one seaport.

BioThenticate can match and manage up to twenty million biometric identities and will be used to screen travelers against a biometric watch list using face and fingerprints. Now individuals who use fake IDs or have multiple passports will have their various identities consolidated into a single record enabling authorities to identify them.

“With our system all sets of identity data are resolved down to a unique person using biometric data and each of the Indonesian government agencies can correctly identify individuals no matter who they claim to be,” explained Dan Ebbinghaus, the vice president of SITA Government and Security Solutions.

Multiple Indonesian agencies will have access to the biometric data to help prevent identity fraud, control the issuing of stay permits, and curb illegal immigration.

Rudhy Chaidir, Indonesia’s director of immigration information systems, said, “In just six months, SITA has implemented this sophisticated biometrics system which allows the various departments in Indonesia to have a single, shared view of identities.”

“We have successfully worked with SITA for many years and now we have the SITA end-to-end solution which covers border management from the primary line, to passport, visa and stay permit and uses large scale, comprehensive biometric identity management,” Chaidir said. “We are confident we will achieve a significant reduction in identify fraud and enable tighter security at Indonesia’s international borders.”