ZEP.DISIG.SK is a successful project as it has been further confirmed by its nomination for the PC Oscar for 2017. ZEP.DISIG.SK made it to the closer nomination in the category IT PROJECT of 2017. This competition is organised by the Digital Visions, ltd.; its 16^th year is still in progress. The winners of individual categories are going to be announced at the IT GALA event, taking place on October 12^th, – which is the most prestigious annual event within the Slovak IT and telecommunications community.

ZEP.DISIG.SK  is a unique solution for creation and validation of qualified electronic signatures in the web environment. The portal enables simple and clear validation of qualified electronic signatures and is also an ideal tool for creation of qualified electronic signatures with qualified time stamps. The users may use portal´s services on different platforms, it supports all the certified QSCD devices supporting CSP or PKCS#11 interface.

Boom of mobile platforms poses a challenge for the world of the qualified electronic signature as in the majority of cases, most of them do not have traditional hardware or software interfaces for working with the cryptographic hardware (as for instance smartcards) at their disposal. However, the eIDAS Regulation has introduced a term “remote electronic signatures creation”, which may represent technically undemanding as well as economically efficient solution for an end user on all mobile and desktop platforms.

Our presentation has defined main technical, security and economic differences between traditional decentralised solutions and solutions for centralised administration of key material.

Zep.disig.sk offers a range of selected electronic services for free, online, nonstop, without any complicated settings, without a necessity to register – and most of all – the services are available for everyone. Thus, the users can validate signed electronic documents, or sign electronic documents using the qualified electronic signature, together with the qualified electronic time stamp. Presented solutions demonstrate technological possibilities of our product Disig QES Portal that integrates certified applications Disig QES Signer and Disig Web Signer.

In 2016, the portal underwent several changes. For our users, we had prepared a new responsive design; we had optimised the portal content and implemented the requirements of the eIDAS Regulation, valid in the whole EU since 01.07.2016.

ZEP.DISIG.SK has thus become a tool supporting the creation and validation of European signatures. However, it also leaves a possibility to work with older versions of Slovak signatures, thus ensuring a backwards compatibility.

ZEP.DISIG.SK in numbers

The year 2016 turned out to be particularly successful in respect to the number of portal visits and use of available services as such. Every year, we have recorded at least 100% increase of all indicators.

In 2016, 22 867 electronic documents were validated and 137 392 electronic documents were signed. It is worth mentioning that the number of users exceeded the cap of 35 000.

Awards

In 2016, we were awarded at the ITAPA 2016 international congress. The zep.disig.sk was nominated for a special Radio Slovakia Awards by the ITAPA organisation team together with RTVS within the prestigious ITAPA Award 2016. We have received a special recognition award within the main category of ITAPA Awards 2016 for our effort in simplifying the use of electronic signature. This award has motivated us to a further development and improvement of the portal.

References

Thanks to an anonymous questionnaire, we have been provided with valuable references by the portal users. The portal functionality has received positive feedback in numerous discussions on professional portals. The users highlight the multi-platform character, simplicity of use and service for free in particular. The portal has been recommended on following portals www.slovensko.sk, www.notar.sk, platforma.slovensko.digital, as well as by commercial subjects systems as for instance by www.slovanet.sk.

Google has decided to drop the support for NPAPI from Chrome Browser. This decision impacts also JAVA applets, which are all based on NPAPI. Therefore, Disig was forced to modify Web Signer and integrate it with Google Chrome using Google Native Messaging.

Currently, Disig Web Signer is the only Slovak application that can be used within Google Chrome to create Qualified Electronic Signatures. Hence, users who prefer Google Chrome are no longer forced to move to a less preferred browser.

It is possible to try the application on our portal zep.disig.sk. It is necessary to install the application before the first usage. Installer packages for all platforms are available on the portal in the “Podpora” section.