Secure Internet-Based Transactions for Public Services

摘要

Electronic business is not restricted to business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) transactions. In recent years the need for electronic services in public administration is emphasized. Here, information technology is a powerful enabler providing new efficient ways of administration-to-consumer (A2C) services. For electronic A2C services a communication infrastructure has to be established which allows direct access to computer-based services. Transactions between service suppliers and service recipients are based on Internet communication. Like in industry connecting information sources and application servers to networks make them vulnerable to unauthorized access. Information security is indispensable in building A2C applications. Network connectivity is required to be enhanced to provide mutual authentication of communication partners, confidentiality and integrity of data transmission across the network. Issues such as access control to administration resources, transaction auditing etc. become important. A smart card is a powerful instrument to identify and authenticate the client and offers value-added functions such as data storage, data inscription or electronic payment [1] [2]. A security and transaction support environment using smart cards on the client's side is introduced. This platform is used for electronic services offered by public administration. A case study shows a sample implementation of secure Internet-based transactions and the potential of process optimization in public services.