CNN recently reported that hackers had demonstrated how a biometric passport issued in the name of “Elvis Presley” could be cleared through an automated passport scanning system being tested at an international airport. Using a doctored passport at a self-serve passport machine, the hacker was cleared for travel after just a few seconds and a picture of Elvis Presley himself appeared on the monitor’s display.

Adam Laurie and Jeroen Van Beek, who call themselves “ethical hackers,” say the exercise exposed how easy it is to fool a passport scanner with a fraudulent biometric chip. The Presley test was carried out at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport in September 2008, by Laurie and Van Beek, to highlight potential security shortcomings.

Biometric passports, with data stored on embedded chip, are now standard issue in Europe, the U.S. and a number of other countries. However, Laurie and Van Beek used their knowledge of IT security and hacking to show that biometric passports remain vulnerable to fraud.

The problem, in part, is that each country has its own security signature for verifying its own biometric passports. While some share that information, many countries do not, making it easy to exploit the loopholes.

The CNN article may be accessed here.