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Consumers in Finland can now use their mobile phones to sign documents and authenticate themselves to secure websites, thanks to an innovative new technology platform
Mobile
authentication – using a mobile phone to identify yourself to a secure
network – is gradually catching on around the world. It simplifies the lives of
end-users and enables them to do all sorts of things, from signing documents to
setting up a company, securely, using nothing but the phone in their pocket.
Finland is the latest country to introduce mobile authentication in a trusted network, thanks to a government-driven initiative that paved the way for the introduction of Wireless Public Key Infrastructurebased authentication for service providers requiring strong authentication and legally binding signatures. These include banks, insurance companies and municipal services, as well as eCommerce and social media websites.
As a result, the three major mobile network operators in Finland – Elisa, TeliaSonera and DNA – have launched a mobile authentication and signing service in a trust network. TeliaSonera and Elisa are using the technology and platform supplied by Valimo Wireless (a Gemalto company) for the service, which is be available on all phones, not just smartphones, as the application is built into the SIM card. The advent of secure authentication enables operators to provide new and different types of services to their customers. For example, subscribers can use their mobile phone as ID when taking part in online discussion forums, or when applying for a bank account or insurance through a website, knowing that their personal information is secure at all times. They can also use it to make digital signatures, which have the same legal status as a written signature.
Mika Repo, Head of Business at Elisa, explains the benefits of the new platform. “The business model for three operators means that corporate customers only have to deal with one mobile phone operator and one technical interface,” he says. “It is very easy for corporate customers to get access to all mobile phone users who have mobile IDs, regardless of which operator is behind the service. The same goes for consumers. They can use their mobile certificates with their own operator, for any service.”
Elisa is currently looking at what kind of payment information can be included in the same message structure so that authentication, digital signing and payment can be carried out in a single transaction. This can then be linked to additional identification information such as address and payment history, giving unlimited possibilities for mobile authentication for a wide range of transactions and uses.
Repo believes that the opportunity to add more information to the authentication method opens up all kinds of possibilities for new applications. For example, the technology could be used to fill in online forms, or to enable someone to set up a new company online. The user will simply need a mobile phone number for identification purposes – all the information the website needs can then be taken from that.
The bottom line is that customers will no longer have to send off copies of their passport and driver’s license every time they want to open a new account with their bank, for example. It’s a powerful example of the way mobile technology can make life more convenient for the user.
[Article published in
The
Review (Summer 2011)]
Jun 28, 2011| Sonera and Elisa Jointly Launch Valimo Mobile Signature Solution in Finland
Feb 3, 2010| Gemalto acquires Valimo Wireless, the world leader in mobile authentication
