September 18, 2023, 1:40 pm | Read time: 5 minutes
Proving one’s identity online is currently possible but relatively cumbersome. The Smart-eID aims to finally change that. Three years after the initial announcement, the new feature is now actually coming, albeit only for a portion of the population.
“The Smart eID Act is a quantum leap for business models on the internet and digital communication with the administration,” stated Dr. Markus Richter, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community, very optimistically in 2021. But what are we dealing with? Essentially, it is about enabling citizens to identify themselves online more conveniently and securely using a Smart-eID in the future. After more than three years of planning and delays, this form of e-ID is finally set to arrive.
Overview
E-ID, Smart-eID, AusweisApp?
“Starting in fall 2021, citizens should be able to store their online ID directly on their smartphones and identify themselves securely digitally without an ID card in just a few seconds. This is more practical and takes only about half as long as the electronic identity verification with the ID card,” stated the announcement from the Federal Ministry of the Interior on February 10, 2021. The Smart-eID has not yet arrived, but at least there is a new announcement: This new identification option is supposed to come in the fourth quarter of 2023, the federal government shared in response to a CDU/CSU inquiry. This time, for real.
So far, citizens can identify themselves online either through methods like Video-Ident or the classic E-ID. All ID cards issued since July 2017 have the online ID function, but its use is not directly user-friendly. To read the data stored on the chip card, you need either a card reader or a smartphone with an NFC chip and the AusweisApp 2. With current smartphones, this is generally no longer a problem, but older models still encounter issues.
The new Smart-eID is intended to significantly simplify the identification process by permanently storing the ID data on the smartphone. The complicated and multi-step handling of the previous online ID function resulted in a very low application rate. Between January 2020 and June 2023, the function was used only about 19.73 million times. About half–10.8 million uses–occurred in the last twelve months. The demand for a convenient and secure identification method seems to be increasing, but the current E-ID is not very popular.
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Smart-eID is coming–but only for a few
The project partners Samsung, Bundesdruckerei, Telekom Security, and the Federal Office for Information Security originally aimed to launch the Smart-eID in 2020. The pilot phase, however, started with a generous delay on March 28, 2022. But now the release is finally in sight. In other European countries like Estonia, digital identities have long been established.
Even if the function does arrive by the end of this year, it will initially be accessible to only a fraction of the population. Specifically, it will benefit citizens who own one of the following Samsung smartphones:
- Samsung Galaxy S20 / + / Ultra
- Samsung Galaxy S21 / + / FE / Ultra
- Samsung Galaxy S22 / + / Ultra
- Samsung Galaxy S23 / + / Ultra
- Samsung Galaxy A54
- currently still in talks regarding Galaxy A53
The fact that only these models support the Smart-eID is mainly due to two reasons: On one hand, smartphone manufacturers must give their consent; otherwise, the ID card cannot be stored on the smartphone. So far, only Samsung has given its consent, as the manufacturer was involved in the development of the Smart-eID. On the other hand, not all smartphones yet have the secure chip necessary for storing the Smart-eID. The fact that the new ID function is not only arriving with a three-year delay but is also inaccessible to many people is unlikely to contribute to trust and the spread of the new procedure.
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How does Smart-eID work?
To set up Smart-eID, the AusweisApp 2 from Bundesdruckerei must be used again. Here, the stored data of the digital ID card is verified. Subsequently, the data of the analog ID can be transferred using the NFC function. An encrypted connection between the individual smartphone and the ID server is intended to ensure secure data transmission for each application.
Now, citizens can identify themselves online, and possibly in certain offline situations, without their physical ID. However, the Smart-eID will not replace the physical ID. Especially during police checks or international travel, it is advisable to always carry the chip card.
Read also: Changes in applying for ID cards and passports
What about data protection?
The more sensitive the personal data, the more critical the questions about data protection should be. In the case of Smart-eID, there are concerns about the corporations–currently mainly Samsung–that gain access to the data. The federal government counters that the technical foundations for the Smart-eID come from the “Optimos” technology program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and are therefore of state origin. How secure Smart-eID is against fraudulent attacks will mainly be revealed over time in practice. The costs, which amounted to almost 90 million euros between 2021 and 2023 alone, make the success of the Smart-eID highly desirable.
That digital identities are part of a future-proof state and administrative apparatus is something the EU also leaves no doubt about. Currently, work is underway in Brussels on an EU-wide digital identity. In this context, member states are to develop digital wallets that allow citizens to identify themselves digitally or provide driver’s license verification. However, the fact that the last wallet project of the federal government in 2021 under Andreas Scheuer failed spectacularly leaves one skeptical about the future.