Automatic Authentication using the Austrian Citizen Card (abstract)

The concept of the Austrian citizen card enables the generation of electronic signatures, provides mechanisms to establish confidential communication channels, and supports features for user authentication in public services. This document specifies a mechanism -based on the Austrian citizen card- and a trustworthy component -called security layer- to fulfil all requirements for authentication processes, suitable for electronic administrations. The additional trustworthy component (security-layer) forms the interface between diverse applications and the smart card (citizen card). But this layer also offers features which can be used very efficiently in conjunction with certificate-based user authentication. Depending on the used technology, three different levels (qualities) of user authentication can be realized. In the following, a short introduction is given to the concept of the Austrian citizen card followed by common descriptions of three mechanisms suitable for usage in the environment of public services.

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