Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board has begun issuing new electronic identity cards developed with Thales, featuring remotely updatable security software designed to keep pace with the mobile-first digital government ecosystem the country pioneered.
The new cards were developed under an eight-year contract covering the full lifecycle of Estonia’s national identity documents. Built on translucent polycarbonate with transparent edges, they incorporate multiple optical security features that Thales says exceed standard European requirements for tamper resistance and verification.
The standout feature for Estonia’s mobile identity ecosystem is the cards’ upgradeable software architecture. If new cybersecurity threats emerge after issuance, authorities can remotely update the cards’ security protocols without requiring physical replacement. That capability is significant in a country where the national eID card underpins not just government services but also Smart-ID mobile authentication and Mobile-ID, the smartphone-based credentials millions of residents use daily for everything from banking to digital signatures.
Estonia, which became the first country to achieve 100 percent digital government services, treats the physical eID card as the trust anchor for its broader mobile credential stack. Citizens use the card to activate mobile identity tools that then serve as their primary authentication method on smartphones. The new cards comply with eIDAS standards, positioning them within the regulatory framework that will require all EU member states to offer digital identity wallets by the end of 2026.
The card has been awarded “Best New National eID Card” at the High Security Printing EMEA conference in Morocco. Estonia has also been developing a multimodal biometric enrolment app for its e-residency program, further extending mobile access to its digital identity infrastructure.
Thales provides digital identity and security solutions to governments in more than 70 countries.
Sources: Business Wire, The Quantum Insider
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By the Mobile ID World Editorial Team
