Are you prepared for change to a digital life? - A Frontline report from Estonia

Martin Paljak
Cybersec R&D / eID architect, State Information Authority Estonia

Synopsis

• Estonia has over 10 years’ experience in national eID card schemes, and is now planning the next steps;
• Managing change and upgrading the current service offerings to fit future needs are the major issues;
• Other vital demands include ensuring the high flexibility, adaptiveness and security of any solutions.

Estonia has blazed a unique trail in the digital identity revolution, with each of its 1.3 million citizens able to access securely and conveniently services such as eHeathCare, eTax and eVoting while on the move. Now 10 years after the establishment of this digital society, Estonia is upgrading the system to meet the growing challenges presented by the evolution of modern life.
 
Challenges
Can the current infrastructure be changed?  
Is the service extendable to new devices such as mobile and wearables?  
Will changes cause public concern over privacy protection?
 
Solutions
Together with Trüb Baltic and Infineon, the Estonian government is prepared to face future challenges with a joint solution. Estonia has chosen a flexible and secure platform, which is able to update digital content even after issuance. It can easily be extended via a speedy ISO interface. Using advanced cryptography such as Montgomery or Edwards curves, as well as Merkle hash trees, will help Estonia secure these systems over many years. Experience shows we must provide high flexibility, adaptiveness and security in our digital life.
 

 
Biography
Martin Paljak is the technical eID architect at RIA ( the Estonian Information System Authority), and a long-time contributor to open source smart-card-related projects such as OpenSC, pcsc-lite, libccid and GlobalPlatformPro.