British cyber technology company VST Enterprises (VSTE) has launched the world’s first public ‘fit to fly’ secure health passport designed for air travel. The V-Health Passport can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play and can be used alongside any form of Covid-19 testing and vaccination. According to the company, it does not use unsecure barcodes and QR code technology. Airlines and transport carriers can also download and use the system.
The V-Health Passport uses next-generation VCode code scanning cybersecurity technology. Using advanced closed loop technology with end-to-end encryption, V-Health Passport has 2.2 quintillion collision-free combination codes. These decode based on geolocation, time and date, device type and user login, meaning the system cannot be hacked.
It can provide airline passengers and airlines with a secure digital passport that validates the passenger’s identity, authenticates their Covid-19 test result and vaccination/immunization details in one secure app. The V-Health Passport also provides airline passengers and airlines with a contact-tracing technology that uses anonymized data.
VSTE’s CEO and inventor of the VCode technology and V-Health Passport, Louis-James Davis, said, “We are the first technology company in the world to have developed a secure, multipurpose, cross-corporate and cross-government digital health passport that does not rely on using barcodes or QR codes as its authentication technology. Barcodes and QR codes both have huge potential security implications as they can be cloned and hacked, with the latter being subject to a process called ‘attagging’. Therefore, any suggestion of using this type of technology in a health passport for air travel has very real security risks.
“Not only is a citizen’s personal information at risk, but so is their Covid test status, vaccination records and credit card information. All of this can lead to the very real potential of a massive data breach and a person’s personal information and data being hacked and stolen. This is of particular concern when using a barcode or QR code technology designed for use to authenticate a person’s Covid-19 testing and/or vaccinations records.”
Davis added, “We developed and built the V-Health Passport and health wallet to be the most secure technology on the planet that you could use as a health passport where you could combine your test status, vaccination record, boarding pass, airline ticket, music or sports ticket all in one app. With V-Health Passport we wanted to provide functionality and greater mobility to allow citizens to return to work, be fit to fly or return to the sports stadiums. But at the heart of the technology was the ability to protect and respect data privacy of the individual.”
Other industry bodies are also working to create health passports, including IATA, which is developing its IATA Travel Pass. The digital platform aims to provide accurate information on travel, testing and vaccine requirements for travel; enables passengers to find test centers at their departure location; enables authorized labs to securely send test results and vaccination certificates; and enables passengers to create a ‘digital passport’, verify that their test/vaccination meets the regulations, and share test or vaccination certificates with authorities to facilitate travel.
