Study trusted data sharing

Hypervault and Trust Agency are pleased to announce the start today (15/02/2024) of a study on the trusted sharing of data in business contexts for which they received a grant from the Flanders Innovation and Entrepreneurship Agency (Vlaio).

The eIDAS 2 regulation introduces the concept of "Electronic Attestations of Attributes" (EAA). These have several properties that we believe will be of considerable value in the business world. These properties are very well suited for online business processes where efficiency and the avoidance of administrative burdens are becoming increasingly important:

• Legal value
• Proof of origin of the attestations (not falsified)
• Sustaining the integrity (not modified)
• Validity limitation of attestations in time.
• Due to the automated issuance, attestations can be very easily renewed to prolong the validity.
• Attestations can be revoked when the content becomes invalid.
• Anyone who receives these attestations can verify the validity of the attestations
• eIDAS 2 obliges all members states to offer every citizen and legal persons the tools to easily handle EAA, guaranteeing a widespread adoption.
• These attestations are machine readable so that they can be validated by automated systems (online and physical access devices)
• Attestations can be distributed without needing access to specific (centralized) systems (that might fail)
• These attestations contain privacy features that allow easy compliance with privacy legislation. For example, the possibility to only deliver the required part of the data in the attestation.

eIDAS 2

eIDAS 2 is a European regulation that will be valid in the whole of the EU from the moment it becomes applicable (foreseen in the coming months). It will give legal value to electronic attestations of attributes. Electronic attestations of attributes that are issued by audited and accredited services (qualified electronic attestations of attributes), will have the same legal effect as lawfully issued attestations in paper form. This means that there will be no more need for paper processes to live up to legal requirements.

Electronic attestations

Typically, electronic attestations of attributes deliver attributes linked to identity properties (e.g. being qualified to execute a certain profession, having followed a required security training, being a member of an organization, etc.). However, attestations can also contain attributes that are related to objects (has passed a certain quality control, is a genuine product, proof of origin of a package or container, etc.). We believe that the amount of use cases that can be made more efficient than with the current processes are very vast. We also believe that there are multiple use cases that were not feasible so far, because of lack of speed or prohibitive costs of paper-based processes, that can become feasible thanks to the automation possibilities of the issuance and validation of electronic attestations of attributes.

Collaboration

Hypervault and Trust Agency will work together to study the optimal way to set up an ecosystem for the business world to maximally leverage the potential delivered by electronic attestations of attributes.

With their digital vault for businesses, Hypervault, enables companies to securely store passwords and other data in electronic format. Hypervault is focused on business clients, which is the focus of this project. Hypervault strongly believes that the ability to incorporate the concepts of Electronic Attestations of Attributes and Digital identity Wallets in its business will help its customers to implement these new functionalities with the least possible efforts.

Trust Agency is specialized in Trust and Identity Services and will provide the required expert knowledge. The Trust Agency experts have a considerable experience setting up similar solutions in the past, specifically in the eIDAS trust services area. Trust Agency was involved in shaping the new eIDAS 2 regulation (via input on the drafts) and is currently involved in the creation of the standards that will need to support it (as member of the ETSI ESI workgroup).

More information

In case you are interested in electronic attestations of attributes, please do not hesitate to contact us via info@trust-agency.eu or info@hypervault.com .