In 2017, Swisscom Trust Services created a service allowing customers to sign legally binding documents digitally. Upon creating the All-in Signing Service, they needed to build a means to authenticate users. Under swiss law, this registration process required a personal encounter to ensure the most robust signature. To do so, they envisioned a process where accredited registration authentication (RA) agents would interview prospective users personally and register them. They do so today using a digital tool which Open Web Technology helped developing. The RA Agent uses an IOS/Android App to enter the user’s personal information (first- and lastname, address, date of birth, email,etc..), photograph the user’s identity card, photograph the user itself, and verify that the phone number provide is indeed associated to the user. The Agent can then view the repository of clients registered through a web admin portal. There she/he can also choose to edit a user’s information or remove a user.
Create a portal where RA agents can view their clients, edit their credentials and/or remove users
Open Web Technology was mandated by Swisscom Trust Services to build the backend architecture of this service and construct the web admin portal. Designing the architecture firstly involved determining the scope of identification possibilities. Indeed the registration process only occurs based on a specific need. This need may be client specific (local) where registered users will only be able to sign documents within one limited entity (e.g. bank). Elsewise it may be valid on a global scale across multiple services and/or several countries. For legal purposes, the identity storage was managed using a combination of symmetric and asymmetric encryption. The asymmetric encryption is used to store the entirety of the user’s information in one document. Only Swisscom Trust Services has the ability to decrypt this type of document, which is solely used for legal purposes. The symmetric encryption is used by Open Web Technology’s software to match a claimant with a registered user.
- «A blueprint was done to define the operational and technical functionalities of the registration process. Based on these functionalities »
- «Open Web Technology developed the backend and the frontend of the administration process. The application used by Agents was delegated to another company»
- «Once the platform was built, OpenWT offered support and maintenance to Swisscom Trust Services.»