Galaxy S20 will soon replace physical ID for German citizens

Berlin, July 25 Samsung has partnered with the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), Bundesdruckerei (bdr), and Deutsche Telekom Security GmbH to allow its Galaxy S20 series to become the first smartphones capable of serving as official ID in the European nation.

To enable this e-identification process in Germany, the German government and Samsung are developing an app that will be available on the Play Store, utilizing the framework created by the manufacturer to store IDs securely.

"We are incredibly proud that our Galaxy S20 series was the first line of mobile devices to meet such high security standards set out by the BSI. We always strive to offer the highest level of protection possible for our users," Daniel Ahn, Corporate SVP and Head of Security Team at Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics, said in a statement.

"As we continue to move towards digitization, our goal is to ensure that mobile users around the world can enjoy these new services with true peace of mind, knowing that we will keep them safe," Ahn added.

The eID service will only be offered in countries that issue ID cards with NFC support.

The Samsung Galaxy S20 lineup, including the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra, will be the first smartphone to comply with the BSI's eID security framework for sovereign use.

According to the company, security-wise, the Galaxy S20 family has embedded Secure Element (eSE) that stores all the sensitive data on a separate processor inside the phone with proper isolation and protection against hardware attacks.

Meanwhile, Apple is also planning to upgrade iPhones with technology that would replace physical documents such as library cards, driver's licenses, passports and other documents used for verification.

There have been a series of various patent applications that have been submitted, all with the name Providing Verified Claims of User Identity.

( With inputs from IANS )