LG CNS to issue ID cards on smartphones

LG CNS, an information technology service firm, said Monday that it will have its employees carry their identity cards inside their smartphones for office access.

With plans to test the system in October, the firm signed an agreement to cooperate with telecoms KT and LG Uplus on near-field communication technology which is deemed to strengthen information security on the same day.

The firm will equip the employee’s smartphone with a universal subscriber identity module applet which will enable the worker to use it as his or her new identity card when passing the gates.

Dubbed to be the country’s first over-the-air service in NFC, people will not need to carry their identity cards separately, but only download their single ID information onto the USIM chips on their smartphones, LG CNS officials said.

The biggest merit of the NFC technology is that hacking is nearly impossible, said an LG CNS official. With the technology and NFC-enabled smartphones in place, the firm is expected to launch a new solution and have it ready for other companies following its testing stage.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)