Despite significant investments in eGovernment, reported experiences show limited and struggling success cases. In the last 15 years, Governments’ efforts have been scattered, as agencies were mainly concerned with the development of informational portals and some basic online services resulting from the automation of a few traditional transactions.
In fact, Governments have been cautious in terms of their preferred eGovernment approaches and strategies. A large number of Governments’ services are still provided over the counter and requires the physical presence of citizens. This is in principle due to the fact that existing eGovernment environments lack effective methods through which they can establish trust and avail services over digital networks.
This article discusses the need for trust establishment to advance eGovernment in light of the existing and emerging realities. It looks at the evolving forms of identities, namely digital identities and the role of PKI technology in enabling such requirements.
The key contribution of this article is that it provides an overview of a large scale national PKI program which was deployed as part of a government identity management infrastructure development scheme in the United Arab Emirates. It provides an insight into the architecture and features of the PKI deployment. It presents how the UAE government planned and set up a national identity validation gateway to support both online and traditional transactions. It also includes some reflections on key management considerations and attempts to make reference to some European initiatives to highlight similarities and differences with the UAE and GCC projects.
With the importance of cloud security, cloud professionals are widely choosing security career. If you are the one, you should go through these frequently asked AWS security interview questions and answers to land a job in AWS security.
Cloud security is one of the highly critical aspects related to the cloud in present times. More evolved threats are emerging every day, and qualified cloud security professionals are in very small numbers. Therefore, a career in AWS cloud security could be a trustworthy choice for many. If you want to go ahead with a career in AWS security, then you must be worried about AWS security interview questions.
https://www.infosectrain.com/blog/top-15-aws-security-interview-questions/
An Introduction to AWS, Why Organizations are choosing AWS, What Workloads are appropriate on AWS, and How Organizations are getting started with AWS. Chris will discuss what many AWS public sector customers and partners are doing with and saying about AWS. Lastly, we will talk about various strategies for how customers and partners can get started with AWS.
With the importance of cloud security, cloud professionals are widely choosing security career. If you are the one, you should go through these frequently asked AWS security interview questions and answers to land a job in AWS security.
Cloud security is one of the highly critical aspects related to the cloud in present times. More evolved threats are emerging every day, and qualified cloud security professionals are in very small numbers. Therefore, a career in AWS cloud security could be a trustworthy choice for many. If you want to go ahead with a career in AWS security, then you must be worried about AWS security interview questions.
https://www.infosectrain.com/blog/top-15-aws-security-interview-questions/
An Introduction to AWS, Why Organizations are choosing AWS, What Workloads are appropriate on AWS, and How Organizations are getting started with AWS. Chris will discuss what many AWS public sector customers and partners are doing with and saying about AWS. Lastly, we will talk about various strategies for how customers and partners can get started with AWS.
PKI in DevOps: How to Deploy Certificate Automation within CI/CDDevOps.com
DevOps and CI/CD make for faster code releases, but they also create new challenges for security practices. Think about TLS and code-signing certificates. Almost every component in CI/CD – binaries, builds, web servers and containers – needs certificates to authenticate and verify trust, but traditional PKI processes just can't scale in DevOps environments.
Join Keyfactor and Infinite Ranges to learn how PKI and certificate management fits within the CI/CD pipeline and why an integrated and automated approach is key to success. In this webinar, we'll discuss:
How applications in the DevOps toolchain use PKI (i.e. Jenkins, Kubernetes, Istio, etc.)
The risks of unmanaged or untracked certificates in DevOps environments
Best practices to support visibility, compliance and automation of certificates in CI/CD
Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a crucial part of living in a connected world. It involves managing multiple identities of an individual or entity, distributed across disparate portals. In an enterprise, IAM solutions serve as a mean to secure access, control user activities and manage authentication for an App or a group of software (infrastructure).
This detailed PowerPoint brings you the most fundamental concepts and ideas related to identity and access management. Plus, we have debunked some popular IAM myths, so do checkout!
Although Aruba makes it easy to choose the best WLAN architecture to fit your IT and business needs, it's vital to sort through some critical predeployment issues before you get started. Join us to review the latest product and architectural options from Aruba as well as validated WLAN design best practices. This session includes in-depth coverage of Aruba Instant and Aruba Mobility Controllers.
Understand the core concepts of Cloud Computing. Whether you want to run applications that share photos to millions of mobile users or you’re supporting the critical operations of your business, a cloud services platform provides rapid access to flexible and low cost IT resources.
Connected & Autonomous vehicles: cybersecurity on a grand scale v1Bill Harpley
A presentation which was given at 'How the Internet of Things is Changing Cyber Security - an event organised by Optimise Hub (Portsmouth University) on January 26th 2017 at Havant.
- This talk describes the issues relating to cybersecurity of Connected Cars and Autonomous Vehicles. It begins with an introduction to technology and standards. It then looks at the key security challenges and asks how prepared we are to deal with the future risks.
- It is a perfect case study in the challenge of achieving cybersecurity on a massive scale.
Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) Introduction & DemoAmazon Web Services
Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) is a file storage service for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances. Amazon EFS is easy to use and provides a simple interface that allows you to create and configure file systems quickly and easily. With Amazon EFS, storage capacity is elastic, growing and shrinking automatically as you add and remove files, so your applications have the storage they need, when they need it.
The AWS Workshop Series Online is a series of live webinars designed for IT professionals who are looking to leverage the AWS Cloud to build and transform their business, are new to the AWS Cloud or looking to further expand their skills and expertise. In this series, we will cover : "Build a Website on AWS for Your First 10 Million Users".
2013 Volvo XC70 Brochure | New York Volvo DealerPrestige Volvo
Check out the 2013 Volvo XC70 brochure provided by Prestige Volvo in East Hanover, NJ. Find the 2013 Volvo XC70 for sale near New York. To learn more about our current sales and incentives give us a call at 973-884-2400. http://www.prestigevolvo.com/index.htm
Railway Level Crossing Accidents Preventer is an exiting research in the railway department which provides safety and prevents the accidents in the nation.
The main objective of this project is to fabricate a fully automated manned & unmanned railway crossing. In this project, the sensor checks the train before reaching the level crossing from a particular distance depending on the capacity of the sensor and gives a command to the receiver units.
When a train approaches the level crossing an alarm sound is produced and the RED light displayed. At that time our device fixed vehicles that is nearing the level crossing will receive the message and will be stopped.
Similarly after the train crosses the level crossing, the sensor senses the train has crossed the level crossing, and gives a command to the receiver units. Now the alarm stops and the GREEN light glows and the signal allows the vehicles to moves on.
The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the PKI project initiated part of the UAE national ID card program. It primarily shows the operational model of the PKI implementation that is indented to integrate the federal government identity management infrastructure with e-government initiatives owners in the country. It also explicates the agreed structure of the major components in relation to key stakeholders; represented by federal and local e-government authorities, financial institutions, and other organizations in both public and private sectors. The content of this article is believed to clarify some of the misconceptions about PKI implementation in national ID schemes, and explain how the project is envisaged to encourage the diffusion of e-government services in the United Arab Emirates. The study concludes that governments in the Middle East region have the trust in PKI technology to support their e-government services and expanding outreach and population trust, if of course accompanied by comprehensive digital laws and policies.
Organizations in both public and private sectors are realizing the value of identity and access management technology to address mission-critical needs and to ensure appropriate access to resources across heterogeneous technology environments, and to meet rigorous compliance requirements. A well-designed identity management system is fundamental to enabling better information sharing, enhancing privacy protection, and connecting the diverse web of public and private sector agencies involved in the delivery of today's public service. This article provides an overview of identity and access management literature. It attempts to analyze the business drivers, trends, issues and challenges associated with the implementation of such systems. It then presents a strategic framework and an overall ecosystem for the implementation of identity and access management system in different contexts of applications. It also introduces possible strategies and solutions for the development of a federated national identity infrastructure. It finally sheds light on a recent government implementation in the United Arab Emirates that was launched to develop a modern identity management infrastructure to enable digital identities and support their application in e-government and e-commerce context.
PKI in DevOps: How to Deploy Certificate Automation within CI/CDDevOps.com
DevOps and CI/CD make for faster code releases, but they also create new challenges for security practices. Think about TLS and code-signing certificates. Almost every component in CI/CD – binaries, builds, web servers and containers – needs certificates to authenticate and verify trust, but traditional PKI processes just can't scale in DevOps environments.
Join Keyfactor and Infinite Ranges to learn how PKI and certificate management fits within the CI/CD pipeline and why an integrated and automated approach is key to success. In this webinar, we'll discuss:
How applications in the DevOps toolchain use PKI (i.e. Jenkins, Kubernetes, Istio, etc.)
The risks of unmanaged or untracked certificates in DevOps environments
Best practices to support visibility, compliance and automation of certificates in CI/CD
Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a crucial part of living in a connected world. It involves managing multiple identities of an individual or entity, distributed across disparate portals. In an enterprise, IAM solutions serve as a mean to secure access, control user activities and manage authentication for an App or a group of software (infrastructure).
This detailed PowerPoint brings you the most fundamental concepts and ideas related to identity and access management. Plus, we have debunked some popular IAM myths, so do checkout!
Although Aruba makes it easy to choose the best WLAN architecture to fit your IT and business needs, it's vital to sort through some critical predeployment issues before you get started. Join us to review the latest product and architectural options from Aruba as well as validated WLAN design best practices. This session includes in-depth coverage of Aruba Instant and Aruba Mobility Controllers.
Understand the core concepts of Cloud Computing. Whether you want to run applications that share photos to millions of mobile users or you’re supporting the critical operations of your business, a cloud services platform provides rapid access to flexible and low cost IT resources.
Connected & Autonomous vehicles: cybersecurity on a grand scale v1Bill Harpley
A presentation which was given at 'How the Internet of Things is Changing Cyber Security - an event organised by Optimise Hub (Portsmouth University) on January 26th 2017 at Havant.
- This talk describes the issues relating to cybersecurity of Connected Cars and Autonomous Vehicles. It begins with an introduction to technology and standards. It then looks at the key security challenges and asks how prepared we are to deal with the future risks.
- It is a perfect case study in the challenge of achieving cybersecurity on a massive scale.
Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) Introduction & DemoAmazon Web Services
Amazon Elastic File System (Amazon EFS) is a file storage service for Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances. Amazon EFS is easy to use and provides a simple interface that allows you to create and configure file systems quickly and easily. With Amazon EFS, storage capacity is elastic, growing and shrinking automatically as you add and remove files, so your applications have the storage they need, when they need it.
The AWS Workshop Series Online is a series of live webinars designed for IT professionals who are looking to leverage the AWS Cloud to build and transform their business, are new to the AWS Cloud or looking to further expand their skills and expertise. In this series, we will cover : "Build a Website on AWS for Your First 10 Million Users".
2013 Volvo XC70 Brochure | New York Volvo DealerPrestige Volvo
Check out the 2013 Volvo XC70 brochure provided by Prestige Volvo in East Hanover, NJ. Find the 2013 Volvo XC70 for sale near New York. To learn more about our current sales and incentives give us a call at 973-884-2400. http://www.prestigevolvo.com/index.htm
Railway Level Crossing Accidents Preventer is an exiting research in the railway department which provides safety and prevents the accidents in the nation.
The main objective of this project is to fabricate a fully automated manned & unmanned railway crossing. In this project, the sensor checks the train before reaching the level crossing from a particular distance depending on the capacity of the sensor and gives a command to the receiver units.
When a train approaches the level crossing an alarm sound is produced and the RED light displayed. At that time our device fixed vehicles that is nearing the level crossing will receive the message and will be stopped.
Similarly after the train crosses the level crossing, the sensor senses the train has crossed the level crossing, and gives a command to the receiver units. Now the alarm stops and the GREEN light glows and the signal allows the vehicles to moves on.
The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the PKI project initiated part of the UAE national ID card program. It primarily shows the operational model of the PKI implementation that is indented to integrate the federal government identity management infrastructure with e-government initiatives owners in the country. It also explicates the agreed structure of the major components in relation to key stakeholders; represented by federal and local e-government authorities, financial institutions, and other organizations in both public and private sectors. The content of this article is believed to clarify some of the misconceptions about PKI implementation in national ID schemes, and explain how the project is envisaged to encourage the diffusion of e-government services in the United Arab Emirates. The study concludes that governments in the Middle East region have the trust in PKI technology to support their e-government services and expanding outreach and population trust, if of course accompanied by comprehensive digital laws and policies.
Organizations in both public and private sectors are realizing the value of identity and access management technology to address mission-critical needs and to ensure appropriate access to resources across heterogeneous technology environments, and to meet rigorous compliance requirements. A well-designed identity management system is fundamental to enabling better information sharing, enhancing privacy protection, and connecting the diverse web of public and private sector agencies involved in the delivery of today's public service. This article provides an overview of identity and access management literature. It attempts to analyze the business drivers, trends, issues and challenges associated with the implementation of such systems. It then presents a strategic framework and an overall ecosystem for the implementation of identity and access management system in different contexts of applications. It also introduces possible strategies and solutions for the development of a federated national identity infrastructure. It finally sheds light on a recent government implementation in the United Arab Emirates that was launched to develop a modern identity management infrastructure to enable digital identities and support their application in e-government and e-commerce context.
Mobile identity management has attracted the attention of both the public and private sectors in the last few years. In the context of service delivery, modern mobile communication networks offer more convenient approaches to developing citizen-centric applications. However, taking into consideration the need for compelling user authentication and identification, secure communication in mobile environments remains a challenging matter. This article explores the potential role of government-issued smart identity cards in leveraging and enabling a more trusted mobile communication base. It delves into the identity management infrastructure program in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and how the smart identity card and overall system architecture have been designed to enable trusted and secure transactions for both physical and virtual mobile communications.
Identity and trust are two important elements that surround any service-providing system. They become more critical when such systems operate in distributed environments and deal with sensitive details. This paper explains how a government-trusted digital infrastructure would address both identification and trust requirements and would support the development of citizen-centric government services. The main contribution of the paper is the presentation of a framework adopted by the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that provides a systematic approach to creating a robust information-sharing system within a secure environment. A model is also presented to explain how synergy among institutions is planned to be achieved and how online users would access web-based government services with a single login using a universal smart identity card.
The concept of federated e-identity is gaining attention worldwide in light of evolving identity management challenges to streamlining access control and providing quality and convenient online services. In a federated system, participant institutions share identity attributes based on agreed-upon standards, facilitating authentication from other members of the federation and granting appropriate access to online resources. The article provides an insight into the ongoing federated e-Identity initiative in GCC countries. The aim of the initiative is to develop a trusted and secure cross-border infrastructure to authenticate and validate citizens' identities across GCC borders. Such an interoperability platform can then be used to facilitate citizens' mobility and stand as the basis for digital economy development. Current literature does not include any information about the work being conducted within GCC countries in relation to the GCC eID platform. This article thus contributes to developing a better understanding of such practices, triggers debate and discussion, opens the door to reflection, and guides international efforts in this eminent domain of practice.
The study investigated the practices of organisations in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with regards to G2C egovernment maturity. It reveals that e-government G2C initiatives in the surveyed countries in particular, and arguably around the world in general, are progressing slowly because of the lack of a trusted and secure medium to authenticate the identities of online users. The authors conclude that national ID schemes will play a major role in helping governments reap the benefits of e-government if the three advanced technologies of smart card, biometrics and public key infrastructure (PKI) are utilised to provide a reliable and trusted authentication medium for e-government services.
This article provides an overview of current international e-Government practices and the role of the national identity management infrastructure program in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in supporting e-Government development. It describes the benefits of e-Government that various governments worldwide have identified, sheds light on some recent surveys on the delivery of e-Government by some countries, highlights some examples and puts the position of the United Arab Emirates into context. It then discusses the program's use of Identity Management in the strategic initiatives, explains their purpose in the facilitation of e-Government within the United Arab Emirates and describes a general roadmap for implementation.
apidays LIVE JAKARTA - How National ID accelerates the digital economy by Rah...apidays
apidays LIVE JAKARTA - Connecting the Digital Stack
How National ID accelerates the digital economy
Rahul Parthe, CTO of International Biometrics Indonesia
The Digital India programme is a flagship programme of the Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
Citizen Digital Identity: Enabling and empowering individuals and institutionsConor Bronsdon
A 2019 paper (which I contributed to) demonstrating how governments can enable citizen services and inclusive economic gains through Citizen Digital Identity.
Part of Microsoft Services' eBook series exploring how digital transformation and Digital Identity are changing industries and cybersecurity across the world.
Enterprise Information Architecture Connected Governme.docxSALU18
Enterprise Information
Architecture
Connected
Government
Author name is hidden
Date: Friday, 4 September 2015
Enterprise Information Architecture - Connected Government
ii
Table of contents
Table of contents ii
1 Introduction 1
2 Conceptual Architecture 1
3 Logical Architecture 3
4 Component Model 4
4.1 Component Relationship Diagram 4
4.2 Component Descriptions 5
4.3 Component Interaction Diagram 6
5 Operational Model 8
6 Conclusion 9
References 10
List of figures
Figure 1 - Building blocks for a Citizen Centric and Socially Inclusive e-Government 2
Figure 2 - Architecture Overview Diagram for e-Government 3
Figure 3 - Logical View Diagram for e-Government 4
Figure 4 - Component Relationship Diagram for e-Government 5
Figure 5 - Component Interaction Diagram for Co-Production Hub Scenario 7
Figure 6 – Operational modelling of Content Resource Manager Service Availability 8
Figure 7 - Operational modelling of Continuous Availability and Resiliency Operational
Pattern 9
Enterprise Information Architecture - Connected Government
Page 1
1 Introduction
In the context our increasingly connected world where information is at our fingertips,
Governments are facing growing pressure to be more open, accountable and transparent
with its citizens, community organisations and businesses (Saha 2010 p.15). Such a
Connected Government or ‘e-Government’ approach requires a transformation in its
thinking and information systems. This report will utilise an Enterprise Information
Architecture Reference Architecture (EIA RA) approach to analyse and design an Information
Centric implementation of an e-Government information system that will deliver Connected
Government.
EIA RA is a template approach to Enterprise Information Architecture. It not only works
through a systematic process of design but it assumes that there are tried and true methods
and design patterns which form the building blocks of information systems. Yet it allows for
changing and evolving technologies (Godinez, et al 2010 pp. 25-33). The systematic EIA RA
approach to e-Government design will include its Conceptual Architecture, Logical
Architecture, Component Modelling and Operational Modelling.
2 Conceptual Architecture
The goal of an e-Government Enterprise Information System (EIS) is to provide a cohesive,
Citizen Centric and Socially Inclusive information system that enables a transparent ‘outside
in’ two way interaction with government by a diverse constituent. Capabilities required for
such an Information System include:
• E-Government must operate as a single enterprise,
• Provide cost effective Citizen and Business and Community organisation oriented
services delivering ‘right first time’ outcomes (King & Cotterill 2007 p. 335),
• Cater for a diverse constituent in terms of culture, language, ability, education,
status and various levels of interaction and informational requirements,
...
(Preview) NEC Digital Platform for State and Local GovernmentsInteractiveNEC
Government agencies that interact with and provide services to the public, such as health and human services departments (HHS), departments of motor vehicles (DMV), and departments of labor, face many challenges—a number of
which stem from the inability to consistently authenticate and securely establish a unique identity for each applicant.
For the full whitepaper, go to https://www.necam.com/AdvancedRecognitionSystems/idfraud/
Digital Signature Certificates (DSC) play an important role in e-Governance by providing secure and reliable electronic authentication of a person's identity. DSCs are used for electronic transactions that require a high level of security, such as online tax filing, company incorporation, procurement of goods and services, and submission of tender bids.
The future of identity verification predictions and trends in blockchain tech...Techgropse Pvt.Ltd.
As a leading mobile app development company in UAE, we have been closely following the rapid development of blockchain technology and its potential to transform various industries. One area that has caught our attention is identity verification, which plays a crucial role in countless processes - from financial transactions to government services. Dubai, a city at the forefront of technological innovation, is becoming a center for exploring the intersection of blockchain and identity management.
Similar to PKI in Government Digital Identity Management Systems (20)
يسلط الكتاب الضوء على دور اقتصاد البيانات في دعم الأنظمة الاقتصادية الوطنية، وإرشاد القرارات والسياسات في مختلف القطاعات. ويقدم مجموعة من التوصيات لتطوير السياسات التنظيمية والبنى التحتية ودعم الابتكار وتشجيع نمو القطاع الخاص وريادة الأعمال.
يسلط الكتاب الضوء على أهم أبعاد التحول الرقمي الحكومي، ويقدم أطر ومفاهيم عامة لتصميم وتطوير المنظومات الخدماتية القائمة على إنشاء القيمة وتحقيق النمو الاجتماعي والاقتصادي
يتناول الكتاب المتغيرات التي فرضتها التكنولوجيات الحديثة على المفاهيم المرتبطة بالنقد، ودور العملات الرقمية في تشكيل مستقبل الأسواق العالمية.
ويتطرق أيضاً إلى التحولات الكبيرة في الاقتصاد العالمي الجديد، ودور العملة في الاقتصاد، والمشكلات التي تواجه العملات بشكل عام والورقية على الأخص، والمدفوعات والعملات الإلكترونية، ومفهوم العملات الرقمية الحكومية والتجارية والافتراضية والمشفرة والمستقرة، هذا بالإضافة إلى مميزات العملات المشفرة ومخاطرها، والقيم المتذبذبة للعملات التجارية، والترويج الذي يتم لها.
كما يستعرض الكتاب التجارب الدولية للعملات الرقمية، والتجارب العربية في هذا المجال، والمواقف الحكومية من العملات المشفرة، وعملة الـفيسبوك، ومستقبل العملات الرقمية والمدفوعات الرقمية، هذا بالإضافة إلى دور تكنولوجيا البلوك تشين في تأمين المعاملات المالية.
ويضع الكتاب النموذج المتوقع لعمل العملات الرقمية الحكومية، وذلك من خلال التطرق إلى 9 خصائص رئيسية مطلوبة لأي منظومة عملة ناجحة من العملات الرقمية، وكذلك 8 مكونات أساسية لنموذج عمل العملات الرقمية الحكومية، مع شرح آلية عمل النموذج.
ومن بين أهم التوصيات التي أوصى بها الكتاب هو ضرورة أن يتوحد العالم العربي لدراسة وتأسيس عملة رقمية وفق منهج علمي مدروس وجماعي، تكون الأولوية الحاكمة فيه هي التوافق والتكامل.
يشير الكتاب على أن التنمية الفكرية في بناء المؤسسات تمثل إحدى أهم الأبعاد المحورية نحو المجتمعات والاقتصادات المستدامة، ويبين أن وصول المؤسسات للقمة والتميز يتطلب منها تكوين فهم دقيق للقيمة المضافة التي تنشئها المؤسسة قبل بحث الكيفية والوسيلة، وأن القدرة على الابتكار والتغيير والتحديث هي السمات التي يمكن من خلالها أن تسهم في توفير قوة دافعة للمؤسسة للتميز والاستدامة.
ويتناول الكتيب عدة محاور ضرورية من شأنها أن تعزز من إسهامات القيادات الشابة في مؤسساتهم، والتي جاء في مقدمتها: مفهوم القمة في العمل المؤسسي، ومجالات وصول المؤسسات للقمة، وأدوات الوصول للقمة والمحافظة عليها؛ وشرح لمفاهيم الإدارة المتميزة، وأساسيات إدارة الموارد البشرية، ومدى الاستفادة من التكنولوجيا، وما يحمله المستقبل من تطورات في مجالات جديدة بالثورة الصناعية الرابعة، وطريقة الوصول للقمة، وكذلك استمرارية البقاء على القمة التي تستدعي التعلم بشكل مستمر، وكيفية استدامة التميز المعتمدة على المنهج المتكامل القابل لتحديد نفسه بصفة دائمة.
يتطرق الكتاب إلى بعض المعطيات التي أصبحت تدفع نحو تحولات كبيرة في النظام الاقتصادي العالمي، ويتناول توقعات المؤسسات الدولية لأداء الاقتصاد العالمي.
كما يضع الكتاب عدد من السمات المفترضة للنظام الاقتصادي الجديد خلال فترة ما بعد (كوفيد 19).
يتناول الكتاب الصادر من مجلس الوحدة الاقتصادية العربية بجامعة الدول العربية بعنوان “الاقتصاد الرقمي ودوره في تعزيز الأمن الوطني”، الفرص التي يمتلكها الاقتصاد الرقمي ويدعو للتركيز على الاقتصاد الرقمي كعنصر تنموي استراتيجي لتطوير مقومات الأمن الاقتصادي.
The study highlights the effects of the revolutions and unrest in Arab countries with an attempt to provide an overview of Arab present and its prospects. It primarily recommends the adoption and employment of advanced technologies in reconstruction efforts and supporting the development of resilient and sustainable economies.
The book is designed to promote understanding of conflicts in organisations, and establish how they can be handled effectively, and make them work as opportunities for improvement and constructive change.
دراسة موجزة لمجلس الوحدة الاقتصادية العربية بجامعة الدول العربية حول آثار أزمة جائحة كورونا على الدول العربية وتقدم توصيات لمتخذي القرار وراسمي السياسات للتعامل مع تداعيات الأزمة.
The book pinpoints that the digital future is exposed to the danger of chaotic, unregulated growth, which constitutes a challenge for countries that still operate according to traditional economic models, and that public thinking in the Arab region in facing challenges still follows the "reaction methodology" and temporary solutions with short-term prospects, and that this is confirmed by the current international indicators of its competitiveness. The book proposes that in order to address this, visions and efforts should be based on strategies driven by scientific methods, and with it the Arab countries must develop a clear understanding of the main challenges before jumping to seize opportunities.
The book shows that it is fundamental for policymakers and decision-makers to have precise and accurate understanding of the intricate details in digital transformation initiatives and the role that modern technologies can play in changing the rules and systems of current practices, and in how to develop digitized, more innovative business models with which to build resilient and sustainable social economies and systems.
The book also draws on the current data and indicators of the global economy and that they are pushing to form a worrying picture of weaknesses in Arab countries, which in turn may threaten the stability of the entire region, especially with regard to the "cognitive decline" and “increasing unemployment rates” and “poor economic performance"; and that these challenges call for dealing with it as key strategic indicators that require urgent action plans; with emphasis that these plans need to be designed to reflect different ways of thinking and adapted to the nature of the requirements and challenges of the 21st century and treat them as forces and positive factors.
The book highlights the importance of accelerating the implementation of a set of initial reform projects to encourage the development of more dynamic and developed digital business environments in the Arab region, in parallel with the development of educational systems and healthcare, and strengthening agricultural capabilities to achieve food security targets, and focus on economies based on industry and production, and promoting the development of Arab digital platforms to support e-commerce practices.
يتطرق الكتاب إلى تحليل الوضع الراهن لمشاريع التحول الرقمي في الحكومات العربية، والمراحل الأربعة للتحول في المنظومة الحكومية، وأهم العوائق والتحديات التي تعطل مسيرة التطور والتقدم ويقدم الكتاب بعض الحلول الموجزة والمقترحة في هذا السياق.
ويوضح الكتاب بأن مفاهيم الصناعة باتت تدفع بتطبيقات ممكّنة للآلات للتواصل فيما بينها من خلال الشبكات الإلكترونية واتخاذ القرارات اللامركزية بمستويات تفوق القدرات البشرية. كما أن ذلك أصبح يدفع أيضاً إلى ظهور نماذج عمل للمؤسسات أشبه بـ «المصانع الذكية» تتميز بقدراتها الآلية على التطوير الذاتي والتعامل مع المتغيرات والتعلم المستدام، والقدرة على تطوير المنظومات الخدمية والإنتاجية بمستويات كفاءة وفاعلية ومستويات أداء غير مسبوقة؛ وأن المؤسسات في المنطقة العربية لم يعد أمامها خيار سوى الاستمرار ومواكبة التقدم في تنفيذ مشاريع التحول الرقمي.
وجدير بالذكر أن المنطقة العربية وكثير من دول العالم شهدت في العقدين الماضيين آلاف المبادرات والمشاريع في مجال التحول الرقمي، مستهدفة دعم قدراتها كحكومة مسئولة عن صناعة العديد من القرارات وتقديم الخدمات، وانطلاقاً من رؤية القيادات في هذه الدول لتحويل الخدمات الحكومية إلى خدمات إلكترونية وذكية.
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• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
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PKI in Government Digital Identity Management Systems
1. PKI in Government Digital Identity Management Systems
Despite significant investments in eGovernment, reported Dr. Ali M. Al-Khouri
experiences show limited and struggling success cases. In the Director General,
last 15 years, Governments’ efforts have been scattered, as Emirates Identity
agencies were mainly concerned with the development of
Authority, UAE
informational portals and some basic online services resulting
from the automation of a few traditional transactions.
In fact, Governments have been cautious in terms of their
preferred eGovernment approaches and strategies. A large Keywords
number of Governments’ services are still provided over the eGovernment, eService, PKI, identity
management, ID card.
counter and requires the physical presence of citizens. This
is in principle due to the fact that existing eGovernment
environments lack effective methods through which they can
establish trust and avail services over digital networks. PKI technology, while
becoming a critical
This article discusses the need for trust establishment to infrastructure component
advance eGovernment in light of the existing and emerging in modern identity
management systems and
realities. It looks at the evolving forms of identities, namely
supporting the progress and
digital identities and the role of PKI technology in enabling evolution of eGovernment,
such requirements. also raises the need to share
learning experiences from
The key contribution of this article is that it provides an overview practitioners with the aim
of a large scale national PKI program which was deployed as to understand associated
part of a government identity management infrastructure challenges and critical
development scheme in the United Arab Emirates. It provides success factors that should
an insight into the architecture and features of the PKI in turn contributing towards
successful implementations.
deployment. It presents how the UAE government planned
and set up a national identity validation gateway to support
both online and traditional transactions. It also includes some
reflections on key management considerations and attempts
to make reference to some European initiatives to highlight
similarities and differences with the UAE and GCC projects.
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Nº 14 · January/February 2012 · ISSN: 1988-625X 4
2. 1. Introduction
The 24-hour authority is now a much sought after objective for many national Government development
programs (Bicking et al., 2006). Delivery models of Government services over digital networks are
seen to enhance access and overall governance (Ebbers et al., 2008). In fact, other Governments
see this as an opportunity to address three major challenges of the modern age, namely; economic
productivity, social justice and the reform of public services (UK Cabinet Office, 2005).
The ‘24-hour authority’ allows citizens and other stakeholders like commercial organisations,
companies etc., to contact different authorities anytime and anywhere, regardless of their
geographical distances. Many Governments worldwide have released regulatory bylaws to guide and
reinforce the development of user driven portals and services with 24x7-availability. This is a strong
assertion of the 24-hour authority endorsement by different Governments on different levels i.e.,
local, regional, national, international, etc.
Having said that, it is well noted in various publications that the majority of citizens still show a
stronger preference for traditional access channels of OTC (Over the Counter) interactions with
Government and private organisations (Ebbers et al., 2008; Streib & Navarro, 2006). This shows that
there is a clear gap in the services channels that Governments provide but also the preferences of
citizens and Government agencies. Nonetheless, the 24-hour interaction with the Government for
service delivery remains a desirable feature for both citizens and Governments (Becker et al., 2011).
Generally, the interactions of citizens with their Governments can be either informational or
transactional in nature. The following figure depicts a model of citizen Interactions with their
Governments.
Figure 1: Citizens Interactions with Government Services
The key enabling factor between the service requested by the citizen and the fulfilment of the service
itself is the Identity Establishment of the service applicant and the service recipient. Governments
have put for a long time considerable effort and struggle, to some extent, in providing and ensuring
effective and secure identification systems to their citizens. Different Government departments
devised their own identity mechanisms in receiving service requests and service deliveries.
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Nº 14 · January/February 2012 · ISSN: 1988-625X 5
3. At a national level, a unified identification mechanism has always been a challenge. We would also
argue that the deficit in establishing trust in Government services is a more condescending challenge
and might carry more unscrupulous consequences. In one of our earlier publications we pointed to
the fact that eGovernment initiatives around the world have not succeeded in going through the
third and fourth phases of eGovernment development (Al-Khouri & Bal, 2007a; Al-Khouri & Bal,
2007b). See also Figure 2.
Figure 2: Four Phases of eGovernment – (Baum & Maio, 2000)
In our studies, we highlighted the need for fundamental infrastructure development in order to
expand outreach and accelerate eGovernment diffusion (Basu, 2004; Baum and Maio, 2000; Schedler
and Summermatter, 2003).
The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the UAE Government PKI program which
was implemented as part of a national identity management infrastructure development initiative.
It explains the major components of the system and how the government intends to support
eGovernment progress in the country. More pragmatically, we seek to make a contribution to the
available research literature on the implementation of PKI in national identity management systems.
This article is structured as follows. The first section discusses the need for trust establishment in
light of the existing and emerging validation methods. The next two sections look at the evolving
forms of identities, namely digital identities and the role of PKI technology in enabling such
requirements. Next, a brief highlight is provided around eGovernment and identity management
initiatives from around the world. Then in the following two sections, we introduce the UAE national
identity management infrastructure, describe the UAE PKI program and bring to light its major
components. Finally, some reflection is provided on key management considerations and an attempt
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4. to make reference to some European initiatives to highlight similarities and differences with the UAE
project is made before the paper is concluded.
2. Trust Establishment by Identity
Trust establishment in a traditional or eGovernment environment is required by the fact that a citizen
is largely anonymous among the mass multitude of population. Yet the government is expected to
reach out to the citizen and provide its services on a personalised level (Heeks, 2006). The following
table provides an overview of the types of trust establishment needed for different service types.
Table 1: Trust establishment and validation methods
Service Type Application Method
Public Information Simple Identification – no need of
Informational Physical entry of name or ID
identity verification
Manual Entry of ID
Private Information- ID Required to be entered as data
Informational Documents to prove ID of intended
for information retrieval
service recipient
Manual Entry of ID
Service Request submission: ID Required to be entered
Transactional Documents to prove ID of intended
as data- OTC (Over The Counter)
service recipient
Service to be delivered OTC (Over the Counter)- Ensure Documents to prove ID of intended
Transactional
that it is being delivered to the correct person service recipient
Service to be delivered OTC (Over the Counter)- Ensure
that it is being delivered to the correct person and Documents to prove ID of intended
Transactional
require confirmation of service delivery (signature of service recipient
service beneficiary)
Manual Entry of ID + Documents to
Transactional Service Being Requested Remotely
prove ID of intended service recipient
Service to be delivered remotely- ensure it is
Transactional being delivered to the correct person and require Auto ID/ Digital ID Verification
confirmation of service delivery
For each interaction, the trust establishment varies to the extent of the service being requested and
delivered. This is depicted in the trust matrix illustrated below.
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Nº 14 · January/February 2012 · ISSN: 1988-625X 7
5. Figure 3: Trust matrix
This is a simple trust matrix to illustrate the basic needs of the citizen interactions with their
Government. For each type of interaction, the trust requirements vary depending on the nature and
criticality of the service being sought and being delivered. The higher the criticality, the higher and
more complex the trust requirement.
Trust is established by a set of credentials that need to be presented by the service seeker. Whether
the service is being sought or delivered over the counter or over remote service channels trust
establishment is constructed based on the presented credentials. These credentials thus are
considered essential constituents of the Identity Profile that needs to be presented to prove both
the identity of the service seeker as well as the service provider.
There are a number of conventional credentials that citizens are used to provide to establish their
identity. For instance, birth certificates issued at hospitals which are later certified by the municipal
authorities are considered legal documents of existence. Other affidavits and notarised documents
serve as legal documents to establish an identity. These are the basis on which Governments seek to
provide identification documents to their population.
In the current complex digital world where a person can assume different identities, such documents
fall woefully short of trust establishment needs. Many Governments around the world have recently
stepped in to precisely address this critical requirement and provide digital identities to their
citizens (Al-Khouri, 2011). The digital identity in government terms can be defined as a set of
verifiable credentials provided by the Government to its population that can be used to identify and
authenticate them by a trust chain setup by the government itself. One of the approaches in this
path is the development and integration of a Government identity management system with Public
Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology. The following section will elaborate further on this.
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6. 3. Digital Identities
For any Government transaction, citizens need a ‘recognised’ ID. This recognition is well accorded
when it is issued by the Government itself. Government issued IDs are no new phenomenon. However,
paper based IDs that were long issued (like passports, social security IDs, etc.) are no longer adequate.
Governments, in the last ten years have re-engineered their citizen identity systems to meet the
challenges and needs of the eWorld and its new economy (Broster, 2011; Stavrou, 2005). In fact, the
last few years have witnessed the evolution of the digital identities or so called eIdentities by various
Governments across the world (Griffin, et al., 2007; Seifert, 2003).
Driving factors for issuing digital identities have been varying for different Governments. However,
the underlying need for digital identity has remained the same around the globe. Strengthening
primary identification issuance process, enhancing border security, supporting social security, and
improving social benefits delivery are some of the key drivers for digital identity evolution. The
need of Government entities to become 24-hour authorities has also been a major contributor in this
regard. All this together has played a major role in the development and deployment of different
national identity management initiatives and frameworks in different parts of the world to develop
digital identities (Al-Khouri and Bechlaghem, 2011).
As mentioned earlier, digital identity is not just a number but a set of parameters that constitute
a profile of the identity holder. The scenarios in an eGovernment environment can be much more
complex as the identity holder may play different and simultaneous roles. The Government, as the
identity issuer, needs to provide a generic identity and yet meet the demands of effective identity
management including security and privacy. This is the paradox of identity management.
It is the role of the Government to associate digital identities to specific persons who will be authorised
to perform certain actions in physical or digital forms. This association is facilitated through creation
of an identity profile consisting of name, ID number, biometric information, digital certificates and
digital signatures that altogether construct a strong digital identity (Al-Khouri, 2011; Wilson, 2005).
Many Governments have considered PKI technology to establish and implement this binding. In basic
terms, PKI attaches identities to digital certificates for the purpose of assured, verifiable, and secure
digital communications.
4. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
Public key infrastructure, commonly referred to as PKI, is an Information Communication Technology
(ICT) infrastructure, a term used to describe the laws, policies, procedures, standards, and software
that regulate and control secure operations of information exchange, based on public and private
keys cryptography (Brands, 2000). Table 2 summarises the primary elements that make up the PKI
components. The term PKI is used in this article to refer to the comprehensive set of measures
needed to enable the verification and authentication of the validity of each party involved in an
electronic transaction.
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Nº 14 · January/February 2012 · ISSN: 1988-625X 9
7. Table 2: Basic PKI Components (The Open Group- Architecture for PKI)
Component Description
Electronic credentials, consisting of public keys which are used to sign and
Digital Certificates
encrypt data. Digital certificates provide the foundation of a PKI.
Trusted entities or services that issue digital certificates. When multiple CAs
are used, they are typically arranged carefully prescribed order and perform
Certification Authorities (CAs)
specialised tasks, such as issuing certificates to subordinate CAs or issuing
certificates to users.
Certificate Policy and Practice
Documents that outline how the CA and its certificates are stored and published.
Statements
Certificate Repositories A directory service or other location where certificates are stored and published.
Lists of certificates that have been revoked before reaching the scheduled
Certificate Revocation Lists
expiration date. OCSP – Online Certificate Status Protocol is an Internet Protocol
(CRL)/ OCSP
for obtaining the revocation status of the certificate.
PKI offers high levels of authentication for online users. It also provides advanced functions such as
encryption and digital signature, to provide higher levels of protection of elevated echelons of data
privacy, streamline workflow and enable secure access (Stavrou, 2005). The cornerstone of the PKI
is the concept of private keys to encrypt or digitally sign information. One of the most significant
contributions a PKI has to offer is non-repudiation. Non-repudiation guarantees that the parties
involved in a transaction or communication cannot later on deny their participation. The importance
of PKI is captured in the citizen service model shown below in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Citizen Service Model 2.3 Increasing social demand
As highlighted earlier, identification remains the cornerstone for trust establishment in any
transaction. On site identification or remote identification over digital networks depends on the
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Nº 14 · January/February 2012 · ISSN: 1988-625X 10
8. identity credentials presented to the identification seeker. The presented identity is validated and
verified, which should lead to availing or denying the requested service. This transaction of identity
verification is achieved more securely with PKI. Figure 5 shows the different needs of identity
verification and validation.
Figure 5: Identity Requirements
Complemented with other methods, PKI enables users to securely communicate on an insecure
public network providing public keys and bindings to user identities. The following sections attempt
to provide an overview of Government identity management systems from around the world and
the subsequent sections will present the UAE government efforts to integrate PKI technology to
construct digital identity profiles of its population.
5. eGovernment and Identity Management Initiatives around the
World
According to the 2010 UN eGovernment Survey, South Korea is ranked first in the world in eGovernment,
more specifically in digital IDs and national ID based commercial transactions, followed by the United
States of America (UN, 2010). Western Europe follows closely behind.
Over the last decade, Belgium, Finland, Norway led the Digital revolution. These countries have
transformed their Government transactions and enabled many secure G2C internet-based service
modelled transactions. Digital certificates issued to the citizens are key characteristics of these
systems. The USA, under the Office of the CIO, has developed a comprehensive Identity and Credential
Management Framework and is spearheading the unified National ID card implementation.
The Middle East has taken a cautious approach and it seems to seek to learn from existing
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Nº 14 · January/February 2012 · ISSN: 1988-625X 11
9. implementations to avoid the pitfalls of early adopters and adopt successfully tested technologies
in field of identity management. The 2010 United Nations eGovernment Survey (UN, 2010) and the
2010 Global Information Technology Report (Dutta, S. and Mia, 2011) amply validate this statement.
The United States, UK and most of European countries have implemented biometric identification
systems to identify visitors and transform border control mechanisms. South Korea, on the other
hand, has issued smart card based national IDs to all its citizens and residents and enabled eID-based
transactions, with identity validated and verified by the Government. UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar,
and many other countries in the Middle East have also launched multiple large scale biometric-based
identity programs providing secure and modern identity documents to their citizens and residents.
Overall, Governments in the last decade have spent tremendous efforts and substantial financial
expenditure in modernising their identity systems with the aim to develop compelling Identity Profiles
to strengthen security systems and protocols used across Government agencies. The next section will
provide an overview of one of the very successful government initiatives to develop a sophisticated
and modern identity management system.
6. UAE Identity Management Infrastructure
UAE has been at the forefront of adopting advanced identification technologies in the Middle East
region and among all Arab countries. It is ranked as one of the leading countries in the region in
facilitating eGovernment services, and the highest in terms of its network infrastructure coverage
(Dutta, S. and Mia, 2011; UN, 2010). Backed by a state of art ICT infrastructure and network
connectivity, electronic collaboration and integration is facilitated between different Government
departments to share data which in turn enable many forms of eGovernment service models; i.e.,
G2C, G2G, G2B.
UAE embarked on an ambitious national identity program in 2003 and have successfully enrolled 99
% of citizens and nearly 70 % of the entire population. The program which is being implemented by
a federal Government entity named Emirates Identity Authority (also referred to as Emirates ID),
envisages enrolling all the population (estimated around 9 million) by 2013. Each individual above
the age of 15 is required to visit an identity registration centre for his/her biometrics and photo to
be captured. Those who are below this age will only be registered with biographical data, linked,
however to their parents in the database.
Each individual in the population is issued a smart ID card. The UAE ID card is one of the most
technologically advanced and secure smart cards in the world. It contains a unique identity number,
basic biographical data, biometric information (for those above 15), and digital certificates of the
card holder.
Cardholders can digitally sign transactions thus enabling eCommerce. The national PKI validation
gateway enables real time verification and validation of digital transactions and strong user
authentication capabilities. The government is working on a 5-year PKI-enabled services rollout
implementation model to integrate the card with public sector services and social benefits delivery
and enable PKI-based transactions.
It is also worth mentioning that the UAE have recently concluded (and successfully so) the national
elections for the Federal National Council where the national ID card (including the use of digital
certificates) served as the only identification method in order to cast votes electronically. This
enabled country wide elections to be held and results declared all within one day.
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10. The UAE card has many capabilities. Firstly it is related to the ePurse functionality, planned for
2013, which will enable service providers to offer micro payments for all cardholders with their
identities validated, verified and authenticated by the national Government validation gateway.
Another capability is related to signing documents and notarisation. Of specific interest would be
the digital signature capability of the UAE national ID card. For example, electronic documents can
be digitally signed using the certificates provided in the national ID card. These signatures can be
represented on physical prints of the documents as QR codes that carry the digital signature. Thus
digital signatures can be physically available on paper documents which can also be verified. A smart
phone can read the QR1 code on a digitally signed paper document and refer it to the OCSP2 or the
CRL3 for verification. Verification of the signature can then be carried out in real time.
7. The UAE PKI Program
When the UAE ID card program was launched in 2003, the Government deliberately decided to
integrate PKI to create digital identity credentials for its population and as an essential component
of its identity management infrastructure. At the time, to determine the PKI requirements and to
specify the features and functions of the proposed infrastructure was considered a massive exercise.
Back in 2003, there were not too many references or precedents available that boasted of a successful
PKI implementation. Our worldwide PKI implementation study revealed that barring Belgium and to a
certain extent South Korea, no other country had a proven track record of the architecture required.
It was then left to the project team to define the needs of the PKI (See also section 8).
Considering a long term support requirements and operational requirements, the team chose to go
with a commercial product available and customise it to the Government’s specific needs. Having
decided on the solution platform, the next crucial decision was that of the architecture of the PKI
itself. The primary design element for the architecture development was the process to provide
credentials to all population in the country and address eGovernment requirements.
The UAE PKI project aimed to develop a comprehensive and intergraded security infrastructure to
enable a primary service of confirmed digital identities of UAE ID cardholders on digital networks;
primarily on the Internet. The program has two strategic objectives: (1) to enable verification of
the cardholder’s digital identity; (authentication services) by verifying PIN Code, biometric, and
signature certificate, and (2) to provide credibility (validation services) through the development of
a Central Certification Authority. See also Figure 6 below.
1 QR code: an abbreviation for Quick Response code; is a type of 2D bar code that is used to provide fast readability and
large storage capacity of information through a smart phone. It has wide use in the United Kingdom and the United
States; and is growing fastest in Canada and Hong Kong.
2 OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol) is one of two common schemes for maintaining the security of a server and
other network resources.
3 CRL (certificate revocation list) is a list of certificates that have been revoked before their scheduled expiration date.
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11. Figure 6: UAE PKI project primary objectives
7.1 Central Certification Authority
The Central Certification Authority, also referred to as the Government Root Certification Authority,
is intended to be the highest Certification Authority in the hierarchical structure of the Government
Public Key Infrastructure in the UAE. The high level UAE PKI architecture depicted in Figure 7 will
encompass a root and multiple certified subordinate CAs’ to support own PKI policy and function.
Figure 7: UAE PKI Architecture
The PKI architecture was designed to support two operational models for the implementation of a
third party sub CA. In the first option, an eGovernment authority may implement its own CA including
the required software and hardware infrastructure. It will rely on the same PKI infrastructure to
certify its Public CA using own Root certificate.
This meant that we needed to have a Certificate Authority for the population and a Certificate
Authority for the Government. From a technical and interoperability stand point, it made perfect
sense that we may have two or more different CAs that function under one Root CA.
The second option assumes that a given eGovernment authority CA is setup as part of the same PKI
infrastructure. A virtual partition is implemented on the Population CA. The eGovernment CA will
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12. be initialised and configured on this new virtual partition. A virtual key container is created on the
HSMs so that the Sub CA key pair and corresponding certificates are separated completely from the
Root keys. The solution of this second option is illustrated in the Figure 8 below.
Figure 8: UAE PKI Architecture
Thus a Root CA was setup, and a Population CA underneath it, to issue digital certificates to the
population. The government priority was to ensure that the population be empowered with the
Government issued credentials and to package and store these credentials into a smart card. It was
decided to have a modular design approach in place that would enable the roll out of other CAs
under the Root CA on demand.
7.2 Online Users Authentication
The above architecture enabled us to meet our strategic objectives of providing digital identity and
verifiable credentials to the population of citizens and residents in the country. Verification of the
digital certificates was the next function that needed to be addressed. This was achieved in three
complementing steps:
1. Issuance of a smart card with the digital profile in a secure encrypted format:
The smart card itself is an advanced 144K combi card that combines the power of contact and
contact-less technology for card reading functions. The Java OS used in the card is encrypted with
keys from the PKI that allow exchange of keys between the card and the card reader using advanced
secure access module (SAM) cards or hardware security module (HSM).
2. Development and distribution of a toolkit that enabled service providers to integrate smart
card readers with the ability to read the tamper proof encrypted data in the card:
The developed toolkit allows service providers to integrate the UAE ID card reading, verification and
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13. authentication capabilities with their own legacy applications. Distribution of these toolkits meant
that many Government departments could now securely establish the identity of the cardholder and
deliver critical services to the citizens and residents in lesser time.
3. Publish a CRL on website and setup an OCSP:
The CRL is published diligently on a secure portal on daily basis providing the revocation list. In
addition to this, a Positive Certification List (PCL) is also provided, considering the huge number
of cards in circulation. In addition to the CRL, the PKI is provided with an OCSP service to enable
online real time transactions.
The following diagram provides an overview of the overall UAE PKI Architecture.
Figure 9: UAE PKI Deployment Overview
Abu Dhabi eGovernment was the first government agency to connect to the national UAE PKI
infrastructure. The portal ties in eServices of nearly 45 local authorities. Most of the G2C services are
tied with the UAE ID card some of which require strong user authentication like ID card, biometrics,
and chip-based PIN. See also Figure 10.
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14. Figure 10: PKI Authentication and Validation Workflow
There are six other local and one federal eGovernment authority that are planned to get connected to
this infrastructure by 2013. The UAE central bank is another entity that is envisaged to be connected
as a sub-certification authority that will in turn provide its services to banks and financial institutions
in the country to facilitate financial G2C transactions.
The UAE national PKI program is still in its evolution stages and will mature with time. It is expected
that by the end of 2013, many objectives of the PKI program will be met with G2G, G2C and G2B
transactions carried out using the digital signatures and credential verification features of the UAE
ID card.
Following the example set by UAE, more countries in the Middle East are moving towards implementing
their own national PKI solutions. Moves are afoot in the region to ensure that there is interoperability
among the various national ID cards and more specifically between GCC countries4. Similar to the
European initiative GCC, countries are working on developing a common eIdentity infrastructure
that will enable the authentication of GCC citizens by any service provider at a member state e.g.,
border control, public services, etc (Al-Khouri and Bechlaghem, 2011).
Having said this, the following section highlights some of the lessons learned and management
considerations from the UAE program.
8. Managing the Implementation
The UAE PKI deployment was fraught with issues and challenges. Dynamic scope change that kept
changing the project objective was the most serious issue. Functional requirements changed with
time as Government service providers became more involved during the implementation phases.
More serious was the issue of the project team taking a technical implementation approach rather
than a business driven requirement development approach. It took several executive steering
4 GCC is the acronym for Gulf Cooperation Council, also referred to as the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of
the Gulf (CCASG). It includes six countries namely, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab
Emirates. The number of GCC population is estimated to be around 40 million people.
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15. meetings to ensure that the technical implementations morph into business deployments. This was
a key lesson learned from our PKI implementation.
Though PKI is a technical platform implementation, it is of no consequence if the technology
implemented does not meet the business requirement. Project teams led by technical leaders
complicated the implementation and a strong management resolve ensured that the business
requirements are kept in sight.
One key business requirement was to ensure that a digital certificate is generated from a request
coming from the population register. This meant that the population enrolment and registration
process had to be integrated into the technical process of certificate generation.
Another example is related to the perspectives of the different government stakeholders. We had
to involve potential Government service providers to ensure that there is a smooth on boarding
process that would enable these service providers to integrate the ID card into their processes for
ID verification. We realised that those government departments did not fully understand integration
mechanisms until the later phases of implementation, which impacted and delayed deployment plans.
This involved more of a business process integration challenge than technical process integration.
Change requests were largely led by technical considerations leading to complex deployment
architectures.
9. GCC and UAE PKI Program in reference to European leaders
The UAE PKI Program fundamentally served the same purpose as those implemented elsewhere in the
world. Being part of the national identity management program, the UAE PKI program is serving more
objectives than one. The PKI is an integral part of the personal profile which includes biometrics
stored in the ID card. This proffers major advantages to the service providers to work with multi
factor authentication making service delivery across multiple channels easily possible.
On a different note, in UAE the Government has taken the lead to develop and distribute the toolkit
for the ID card integration. In Europe, Malaysia and South Korea, that are major users of national ID
cards and PKI, the toolkit and ID card integration is left to the service and solution providers.
In Europe the national ID cards do not generally contain the biometric data, as transactions rely
solely on the digital certificates and reduce the service channels to the web. This also affects the
authentication mechanism that can be used. PKI for all that it can be, is not an authentication
mechanism. Authentication is accorded through the use of biometrics. This marks a major difference
in the UAE ID program.
On a different level, the GCC identity interoperability project underway draws many parallels with
the European Interoperability Framework which looks at specifying how administrations, businesses
and citizens communicate with each other within and across Member States’ borders. Several EU
Member States have rolled out smartcard based electronic ID (eID) solutions for their citizens. There
are good references of national ID card equipped with PKI digital certificates being deployed in
Europe with Belgium, Estonia, and Germany, as leading examples.
In general, GCC countries have been evaluating interoperability architecture guidelines and standards
issued by the EU, and they still seem to have no single approach to a possible architecture. However,
GCC countries have defined a few waves of implementation to facilitate services and identity
verification between Member States (see also Al-Khouri and Bechlaghem, 2011).
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16. 10. Conclusion
Governments around the world have made substantial investments in eGovernment initiatives with
the aim to provide better public services to both citizens and businesses. To us, eGovernment involves
innovation and transformation of business operating models, to provide significant added value in
terms of efficiency and effectiveness of operations.
Nonetheless, Governments efforts have been scattered and were mainly concerned with the
development of informational portals and the automation of some of the traditional interactive
and transactional services. All this did not support Governments in moving through the advanced
transformational stages of eGovernment due to multiple reasons ranging from technical and
economical to political. In fact, one of the key barriers to eGovernment progress is lack of effective
methods through which trust can be established over digital networks.
We attempted in this article to highlight the role of PKI and advanced identity management systems
in addressing this requirement. Public Key Infrastructure has proven itself invaluable in eGovernment
and eCommerce environments despite the complexity and associated risks with its large scale
deployments. However, the literature does not include sizeable and qualitative reported experiences
of PKI implementations in the Government sector.
We attempted in this article to present the case of one of the large scale government PKI deployments
in the United Arab Emirates which was implemented as part of a national identity management
infrastructure development scheme. The national PKI implementation was based on the need to
establish binding digital profiles of all population in the country. Combined with the recently issued
biometric-based smart ID cards for all population, PKI technology offers advanced capabilities to
secure digital transactions and offer multi-factor authentication of online users. The application of
PKI is envisioned by the Government of the UAE to strengthen security and public confidence and
ultimately ensure the protection of digital identities.
The national identity validation gateway set up in the UAE, is envisaged to support the progress and
evolution of eGovernment in the country. The gateway will provide identity verification services to
all public sector organisations and Government agencies as well as the private sector. This is likely
to enable the development of more complex forms of G2C eGovernment and eCommerce business
models in the country.
In conclusion, it is our belief that the UAE PKI case presented in this article may constitute a
significant lesson for European and other Governments. However, further examples of ongoing
projects elsewhere in the world are necessary to stimulate a comprehensive understanding and to
identify possible viable alternatives and adjustments to be made for the European context as well as
to deepen the understanding of the full range of costs and benefits in financial, political and social
terms.
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Author
Dr. Ali M. Al-Khouri
Director General, Emirates Identity Authority, UAE
Ali.AlKhouri@emiratesid.ae
http://www.epractice.eu/en/people/271476
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