News in Brief

EUDI Available Free of Charge

The EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI) is to be made available free of charge to all 450 million citizens of the European Union (EU) in the form of a personal digital wallet stored on their mobile phone, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU have agreed.

The digital identity wallet is expected to be made available to 80% of EU citizens by 2030 and will provide them with full control of their personal data.

The new deal between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU covers the core elements of the framework to be used for the introduction of the EUDI with a view to ensuring secure, trusted, and seamless access to cross-border public and private services in the EU.

‘The proposal requires member states to issue a digital wallet under a notified eID scheme, built on common technical standards, following compulsory certification,’ the two bodies explained.

The provisional political agreement has been welcomed by the EU Commission, which is currently conducting four large-scale eID pilots for use cases, including a mobile driving licence, eHealth, payments, and education and professional qualifications.

‘The central innovative element of this framework is a personal digital wallet in the form of a secure and convenient mobile app,’ the Commission said. ‘This will allow all EU citizens, residents and businesses to have trustworthy access to public and private online services all over Europe.

‘The EU Digital Identity Wallet will revolutionise digital identification by giving Europeans control over their personal data with the full convenience of mobile apps. They will be able to use online services and provide identity credentials in full control of their personal data.’ 

Spain Digital ID for Higher Education

A decentralised identity management technology provider, Gataca, has been appointed by the Spanish Royal Mint (FNMT) as the technology partner to implement self-sovereign identity technology in a pilot in collaboration with Spanish universities.

The initiative will provide a mobile application, Cartera Digital, which allows users to generate and store verifiable credentials, providing reliable, easy, and secure access to digital services, such as those offered by the participant universities.

Implementing this pilot project is part of the European Digitalisation Strategy. It has been commissioned to FNMT as part of the efforts to move towards simpler and more secure identification and signature systems that allow citizens and businesses to seamlessly authenticate online.

The universities that have joined the project are Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), Universidad de Murcia (UMU), and Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV).

Among the credentials that will be issued and stored in Cartera Digital are a verifiable ID credential issued by FNMT and a credential called ‘MyAcademicID’ issued by the universities, which will allow access across various student and staff services.

Gataca will provide the necessary technology for the issuance, management, and verification of these credentials, as well as the ID wallet. These products are based on interoperable standards that ensure seamless data exchange between different use cases and geographies.

The pilot will focus on the higher education domain to obtain valuable feedback on the real usability and impact of this technology and to better assess its future widespread implementation in preparation for the upcoming eIDAS 2.0 regulation.

Bangladesh Website Leaks Personal Data

A Bangladeshi government website has leaked the personal information of citizens, including full names, phone numbers, email addresses and national ID numbers.

Viktor Markopoulos, a researcher who works for Bitcrack Cyber Security, said he accidentally discovered the leak on 27 June, and shortly after contacted the Bangladeshi e-Government Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT). He said the leak includes data of millions of Bangladeshi citizens.

The Bangladeshi government quickly took down the exposed data, according to Markopoulos.

The leaked data was verified as legitimate by using a portion to query a public search tool on the affected government website. By doing this, the website returned other data contained in the leaked database, such as the name of the person who applied to register, as well as – in some cases – the name of their parents.

The exposure of email addresses, phone numbers and national ID card numbers is bad enough on its own, but Markopoulos said that having this type of information could also ‘be used in the web application to access, modify, and/or delete the applications, as well as view the Birth Registration Record Verification.’ 

In Bangladesh, every citizen aged 18 and older is issued a National Identity Card, which assigns a unique ID to every citizen. The card is mandatory and gives citizens access to several services, such as getting a driving licence, passport, buying and selling land and opening a bank account.

Dominican Republic Starts Transition to ePassport

Officials of the Dominican Republic have begun what they say will be a year-long process to introduce electronic passports.

President Luis Abinader has authorised the General Directorate of Passports (GDP) to proceed with the contracting process for the design, supply of booklets, equipment, and maintenance of the technical systems for the issuance of ePassports in the island country. This decision has been made as an exceptional case and is declared on the grounds of national security.

The government had previously expressed its intention to transition from the current passport to an electronic one due to its high national interest. The General Directorate of Public-Private Alliances had prepared a project for this initiative, aiming for a public-private partnership to commence by early 2024.

With Decree 282-23, the president has granted approval for the contracting process to begin, with the information classified as ‘reserved’ due to national security concerns. The GDP will directly oversee the process, which is expected to be completed within a year, allowing a change over to the electronic passport.

The current passport, which features a magnetic stripe to store personal information, is gradually being phased out worldwide due to identified inefficiencies in the enrolment, printing, and delivery processes. The transition to electronic passports promises improved services to citizens by reducing wait times and enhancing document security. The new passport will feature a special chip-protecting cover and a visible watermark under ultraviolet light to further enhance its security features.

Decree 282-23 highlights that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has recommended countries replace traditional travel documents with electronic passports to facilitate smoother airport entry and exit procedures. ICAO has specifically recommended the issuance of electronic reading passports by the Dominican Republic to enhance the security of travel documents.

Presently, over 135 countries across the globe utilise electronic passports.