Not cryptography, but slightly related.
German passports are valid 10 years. When my previous one was maybe 7 years old, to my surprise UK border control told me, your chip is dead. He was very friendly and said that's not a problem.
I never traveled to any country with less friendly border control after that, partly it were pandemic years anyway. But I wouldn't want to experience such surprise at the US border or probably many others, too.
I have no idea where, when, and how the chip got damaged. The passport was only used a couple of weeks every year. It had never been soaked, heated, frozen, severly bent or otherwise mechanically damaged. Once it got a bit moist at a sweaty bike trip in the mountains.
As embedded SW engineer I'd say: It's always the hardware :)
German passports are valid 10 years. When my previous one was maybe 7 years old, to my surprise UK border control told me, your chip is dead. He was very friendly and said that's not a problem.
I never traveled to any country with less friendly border control after that, partly it were pandemic years anyway. But I wouldn't want to experience such surprise at the US border or probably many others, too.
I have no idea where, when, and how the chip got damaged. The passport was only used a couple of weeks every year. It had never been soaked, heated, frozen, severly bent or otherwise mechanically damaged. Once it got a bit moist at a sweaty bike trip in the mountains.
As embedded SW engineer I'd say: It's always the hardware :)