The Lucerne-based software company seantis is working with the certification service or trust service provider Swisscom Trust Services to integrate electronic seals into its offerings.
The software development company, which specializes in web applications for complex data, has a customer base mainly consisting of medical research, public authorities, and the aviation industry. For online services with high information security requirements, seantis implements individual developments or offers software-as-a-service. The company consistently relies on open source, i.e., the source code for the digital platform admin.digital, aimed at public administrations, is entirely available on GitHub.
admin.digital gives Swiss authorities a digital version of the official stamp. Public authorities can use electronic seals to certify digital documents and publications. Another digital product with electronic seals is CertificateClaim, which professional development providers can use to authenticate their digital course certificates.
Seantis obtains advanced electronic seals for both applications from Swisscom Trust Services. There is a direct connection for this via a programming interface.
In addition to the two projects already implemented, seantis sees further potential for electronic seals in its products, i.e., the implementation of digital logbooks for pilots in the near future. Furthermore, the company is working on a digital version for public tenders for construction contracts and a solution for the secure documentation of medical research results.
Electronic seals are a digital counterpart to official stamps. Unlike an electronic signature, seals are not assigned to a person but to an institution or company. Among other things, this enables the batch processing of large quantities of documents. To guarantee an appropriate level of security, electronic seals must comply with specific legal requirements. Ideally, companies rely on seal certificates from accredited and audited trust service or certification service providers, like Swisscom Trust Services, to guarantee the security of the seals. Swisscom Trust Services is the only European trust service provider accredited in Switzerland and the European Union.
"Our cooperation with Swisscom Trust Services has been smooth, and we are delighted. With this partnership, we are well-positioned for the future. Thanks to their international orientation, we can integrate seals in products not only used exclusively in Switzerland, like our platform for medical research or digital logbooks for aviation," says Fabian Reinhard, Managing Partner at seantis.