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FRENCH GEMALTO ELIMINATED FROM PASSPORT CHIP TENDER
Today's Zaman
May 18 2012
Turkey
The Public Procurement Authority (KİK) has cancelled an earlier
contract that granted Amsterdam-based digital security firm Gemalto
N.V. a 7.5 million euro tender to provide the electronic chips used in
Turkish passports, following allegations that the company's product
has serious security problems. An Amsterdam-based digital security
firm, Gemalto's main shareholder is the French sovereign wealth fund
Fonds Strategique d'Investissement (FSI). FSI owns the largest share,
8.4 percent valued at 160 million euros, in Gemalto.
Gemalto and its Turkish partner Mozaik Yazılım İş Ortaklığı were
announced to have won the tender -- among four others -- on Jan. 12.
Malaysian IRIS Technologies, Teknoser Bilgisayar A.Ş., Smartrac
Technology and French Arjo Wiggins were the other four firms in
the tender.
The agreement -- to produce 5 million chips over the next 10 years --
was expected to be signed with Gemalto soon after it won the tender.
It was, however, speculated that the codes on the electronic chip
with which Gemalto entered the tender had been compromised (or broken).
These criticisms sparked concerns in Ankara, which places heavy
importance on the strategic tender. The Scientific and Technological
Research Council of Turkey (TUBİTAK) commenced an investigation
following these allegations and found that Gemalto's chip system
was flawed.
The chips on Turkish passports were produced by Malaysia's IRIS and
their Turkish partner Kunt between 2005 and late 2011. On Dec. 22,
2011, a new tender was opened. The tender required that chips for
Turkish passports be secure against possible hacks. The chip model
that Gemalto offered in the tender, "Infineon SLE 66," however,
failed to meet the security criteria. KİK is now expected to give
the tender to IRIS, while Gemalto has the right to appeal to Turkish
courts within the next two months.
Back in January, some circles even speculated that the Turkish
government might move to overturn the chip tender due to recent tension
with France, which approved a bill that criminalizes denying that the
mass killings of Armenians at the hands of Ottomans in the World War
I-era almost a century ago was genocide.
From: A. Papazian
Today's Zaman
May 18 2012
Turkey
The Public Procurement Authority (KİK) has cancelled an earlier
contract that granted Amsterdam-based digital security firm Gemalto
N.V. a 7.5 million euro tender to provide the electronic chips used in
Turkish passports, following allegations that the company's product
has serious security problems. An Amsterdam-based digital security
firm, Gemalto's main shareholder is the French sovereign wealth fund
Fonds Strategique d'Investissement (FSI). FSI owns the largest share,
8.4 percent valued at 160 million euros, in Gemalto.
Gemalto and its Turkish partner Mozaik Yazılım İş Ortaklığı were
announced to have won the tender -- among four others -- on Jan. 12.
Malaysian IRIS Technologies, Teknoser Bilgisayar A.Ş., Smartrac
Technology and French Arjo Wiggins were the other four firms in
the tender.
The agreement -- to produce 5 million chips over the next 10 years --
was expected to be signed with Gemalto soon after it won the tender.
It was, however, speculated that the codes on the electronic chip
with which Gemalto entered the tender had been compromised (or broken).
These criticisms sparked concerns in Ankara, which places heavy
importance on the strategic tender. The Scientific and Technological
Research Council of Turkey (TUBİTAK) commenced an investigation
following these allegations and found that Gemalto's chip system
was flawed.
The chips on Turkish passports were produced by Malaysia's IRIS and
their Turkish partner Kunt between 2005 and late 2011. On Dec. 22,
2011, a new tender was opened. The tender required that chips for
Turkish passports be secure against possible hacks. The chip model
that Gemalto offered in the tender, "Infineon SLE 66," however,
failed to meet the security criteria. KİK is now expected to give
the tender to IRIS, while Gemalto has the right to appeal to Turkish
courts within the next two months.
Back in January, some circles even speculated that the Turkish
government might move to overturn the chip tender due to recent tension
with France, which approved a bill that criminalizes denying that the
mass killings of Armenians at the hands of Ottomans in the World War
I-era almost a century ago was genocide.
From: A. Papazian