E-government means, that procedures of the public administration can be done electronically (e.g. from home). As a central goal of the public administration, e-government leads to more convenient and quicker procedures for citizens at lower costs. In this context, IT-security is of utmost importance:

• Only an authorised person may start a process or receive an electronic notice.
• Only entitled officials may access electronic documents.
• The whole electronic processing must be resistant to external manipulation attempts.

The ID Austria concept fulfils these requirements. It offers

• electronic filing of application
• governmental processing
• electronic delivery

The eID essentially is an electronic identification means as well as an alternative to manual signature (electronic signature and certificate). Since it can be used in various, potentially unsecure environments, information and activation procedures have to be especially secured. A-SIT developed concepts and reference implementations.

Links

• Most important information in this regard is shown at oesterreich.gv.at/id-austria.
• The brochure E-Government ABC offers a detailed description of all e-government activities of the Austrian public administration.
• Furthermore, prototypes and tools, which originated from this collaboration, can be found on technology.a-sit.at.