MRTD - Machine Readable Travel Document

JMRTD

ICAO

A Free Implementation of Machine Readable Travel Documents

JMRTD is a free implementation of the Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD) standards as specified by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The electronic passport (or "ePassport"), which by now has been introduced in many countries, is an implementation of these standards.

Both a card side application (the "passport applet") and a host side API for accessing electronic passports are developed. The passport applet makes it possible to create your own passports (in case you're starting your own country). The applet is written in Java Card.

The host side API makes it possible to authenticate with a passport and read the information on the chip. The host side API is written in Java.

Downloads

The host API can be downloaded as an automatic installer.

• The current version of the host API is jmrtd_installer-0.3.jar
• The current version of the applet is passportapplet-0.0.1.zip
• Or you could check out the SVN repository (we're using the Subclipse plugin for Eclipse)

Note that the host API currently requires JDK 1.6.

Documentation

Available documentation:

• License (it's LGPL)
• Installation instructions
• API docs of the host API

Specifications

Most of the specifications are open (as in: can be purchased). Here's our list.

• The ICAO specs consist of two technical reports:
  • ICAO TR PKI - v1.1
  • ICAO TR LDS - v1.7
• The MRZ (DG1) is specified in ICAO Doc 9303:
  • ICAO 9303 part 1 volume 1
  • ICAO 9303 part 1 volume 2
  • ICAO 9303 part 3
• Biometric data (DG2 a.o.):
  • ISO/IEC CD 19794-5: Biometric Data Interchange Formats - Part 5: Face Image Data: Specification of Face image.
• Specs dealing with crypto (SOd):
  • RFC 3369: Cryptographic Message Syntax: Specification of the data-structure used in the security object.
  • ISO/IEC 9796-2:2002 Digital signature schemes giving message recovery: Specification of the padding used in secure messaging and of the active authentication cryptogram.

Certificates

We have a list of country signing certificates that Google found.

External Links

• Our project page on SourceForge.net.
• Similar projects (in alphabetical order):
  • cmrtd is a sibling project of JMRTD written in C.
  • The Golden Reader Tool (GRT) by BSI.
  • JMRTD is the obligatory recursive link.
  • JSmex is a smart card explorer which supports MRTDs.
  • The OpenMRTD.org project by Harald Welte.
  • The RFIDIOt project by Adam Laurie.
  • THC-ePassport by THC/vonJeek is the JavaCard applet used in the August 2008 Times articles.
  • wzPass is Windows software for reading ePassports by Johann Dantant.
• General information:
  • ICAO site and ICAO/MRTD site.
  • Wikipedia entries on Biometric passport, ePassport, and MRTD.
  • Paspoort informatie (in Dutch) by the Dutch government.
• Opinions and/or blogs on the ePassport by other people:
  • E-passports without the big picture: Jaap-Henk Hoepman and Bart Jacobs on ePassports, identity management, and privacy.
  • MRTD Analysis.org: Lukas Grunwald's site
  • The ePassport cloning myth never dies: A blog entry on ePassport "hacks" by ZDNet's George Ou.
  • Bio Paspoort.blogspot.com: An anonymous blog (in Dutch) about the passport
  • The practical nomad: Edward Hasbrouck's blog.
  • Beveiliging elektronisch paspoort: FAQ (in Dutch) by the System & Network Engineering group at UvA about the August 2008 articles in The Times.
  • Passport cloning in perspective: Cees-Bart Breunesse of Riscure on ePassport cloning.