JCE assures new ID card chip is secure against cloning and data theft

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Republic’s Central Electoral Board (JCE) said the chip embedded in the new national identity and voter registration card has no vulnerabilities that could compromise personal data, enable cloning, or facilitate falsification.

The electoral authority said its assessment was based on technical documents published by FACTOR Inc., consultations with the EMDOC consortium responsible for the project, and opinions from international experts in cryptography and identity documents.

The JCE said security audits have been conducted throughout the project by both the institution and the consortium. However, it noted that the results remain confidential because they contain information related to national security.

According to the JCE, the chip uses elliptic curve cryptography in line with standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). It added that each chip has a unique, non-extractable identification key and security mechanisms designed to prevent the copying of stored information.

The electoral body also said the technical material cited by FACTOR Inc. confirms that attempts to alter data, disrupt secure communications, or falsify the JCE’s digital signature would be rejected by the new system. It stressed that none of the proposed attack scenarios were carried out against a real system.

The JCE noted that the new identity card was also recognized as Best Identity Document 2026 in Latin America by Reconnaissance International during the High Security Printing Latin America 2026 Forum in England.

To increase transparency, the JCE said it will publish the new ID card’s root certificate and corresponding revocation list on its official website. It will also provide a technical guide to help public and private institutions electronically validate the document in accordance with international standards.

The JCE reaffirmed that the new identity card is a state project tied to national sovereignty and security and rejected claims of alleged vulnerabilities, warning that such claims could create confusion and undermine public confidence. The institution said it reserves the right to take legal action to protect the security and credibility of the Dominican identity document.