Maximum security in deputies’ Digital Signatures 

Article published in Red Seguridad, on 07/14/2022

Signed by Javier Bustillo

The important development of the digitization of processes undoubtedly stands out among the positive consequences that we have been able to bring out from the pandemic period. The difficulty imposed by the distancing in these months has led to the greater promotion of those technologies that allow creating and securing the digital identity with all the guarantees.

In fact, according to consulting firm Juniper Research, spending on technology for verifying users’ digital identity by companies is expected to increase by 77 percent in the next five years. Specifically, it will go from 9,400 million dollars in 2021 to 16,700 million in 2026.

In this sense of making internal processes more secure, the Congress of Deputies published a contest that would allow it to choose a solution that would provide maximum security to the signatures of their honorable Members in the different activities and consultations that they carry out every day, and that impact directly in the functioning of our country: voting on parliamentary initiatives and economic files, signing of minutes, etc.

The successful bidder was Víntegris, a Spanish software manufacturer and qualified provider of trust services according to the European Regulation for the recognition of electronic identities (eIDAS).

Thanks to it, the deputies will use Víntegris electronic signature technology in software as a service model, which includes the issuance of electronic certificates, centralized qualified electronic signature in the cloud, and the management of signature flows and qualified time stamps.

The fact of incorporating a certification authority such as the one provided by Víntegris to the Congress signature process means further reinforcing the security and reliability of the numerous procedures carried out by deputies, since it gives their signatures maximum legal probative value, whether they are executed in person from the Congress as if they were done remotely.

In addition, the Víntegris solution incorporates a qualified time stamp that will validate the exact time of the signatures in the event of possible discrepancies and will avoid doubts about its validity, even if the signature is done remotely.

Regarding access by users, as it is a system in service mode, they can access from any device with maximum security, since it is based on group membership and protected by strong multifactor authentication.

Another technological innovation focused on digital identity and promoted during pandemic time is video identification with probative legal value. This technology is called to change the way citizens proceed, since it allows them to remotely carry out procedures that until now, inescapably required a physical presence, such as renewing the DNI, modifications in the registration, procedures with the Civil Registry, etc., and with the maximum level of security to prevent fraud.

Although video conferencing solutions were already used in some sectors such as banking, they did not have the greatest legal probative value. Since the publication of the Ministerial Order of May 2021, and with the requirements of the National Cryptologic Center (CCN), the characteristics of the technologies and the processes to be implemented have been defined so that said validity is maximum.

It should be noted that Víntegris has been the only company that has simultaneously participated as a qualified provider of trust services in the subcommittee defined by the Ministry of Economy and Digital Transformation for the creation of the regulations to which video identification responds (Ministerial Order ETD/465/2021, issued on May 6, 2021) and as a software manufacturer in the subcommittee coordinated by the CCN for the preparation of technical regulations for the development of video identification applications.

And it is that nebulaID, the Víntegris video identification solution, responds to the technical requirements set by the CCN and the ministerial order. Among them, the use of facial biometrics, the capture of documentation via OCR, and the verification of certain characteristics of that documentation, in addition to a random life test in real-time (such as, for example, blinking, turning the head, etc.). With all this information, a query is made, in real-time, to the National Police database to verify its consistency and veracity.

This series of requirements involves accrediting the ability to make transactions and create a digital alter ego of the person on the other side. Something that only trusted service providers like Víntegris can do.

nebulaSUITE is the all-in-one digital identity SaaS solutions platform developed by Víntegris. Available in seven languages, it provides organizations with the complete infrastructure to manage certificates and qualified digital signatures through cloud-based services.

It is made up of a series of tools for the issuance, centralization, management, and discovery of certificates, identity verification, electronic signature management, strong authentication, centralization of electronic notifications, etc. In addition, it has an audit component to provide a 360-degree service on digital flows. Designed for both desktop and mobile devices, nebulaSUITE integrates:

vinCAsign: PKI platform and certification authority.

nebulaCERT: Solution to manage digital certificates in the cloud.

nebulaDISCOVER: SaaS platform for certificate inventories.

nebulaID: Video authentication and remote identification solution with evidentiary legal value.

nebulaSIGN: Solution for digital signature flows.

nebulaACCESS: Solution to manage access to the organization’s systems.

nebulaSNE: Centralized management system for telematic administrative notifications.

All nebulaSuite components can be easily integrated via native REST API with external applications and incorporate features to ensure regulatory compliance, such as the eIDAS Regulation, which aims to strengthen trust in electronic transactions in the internal market.

Finally, it should be noted that the innovative nature of nebulaSUITE has led it to be selected as one of the hundred best ideas by Actualidad Económica and to receive the Trophy for the most innovative Product, Service, or Security System, awarded by Red Seguridad, this year 2022.