Italian citizens can now sign documents in a couple of clicks with SPID

By Francesco Vetrano, Intesi Group

The restrictions and limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have had a direct impact on digital transformation, accelerating the adoption of paperless processes and electronic signatures. SPID (the Italian federated system of digital identities) integration has been added to the major European IdPs (such as BankID in Sweden and Norway, NemID in Denmark, FTN in Finland and iDIN in the Netherlands), now reaching almost 19 million Italian citizen today. 

There are several types of electronic signatures, providing different levels of assurance for the identity of the signer. Classic certificate-based signatures are built on aging technology and are not mobile-ready. The EU eIDAS Regulation allows the signature creation environment to be managed by a trusted third party on behalf of the signatory remotely, in the cloud.  In this context, Intesi Group, as an eIDAS Qualified Trust Service Provider (QTSP), issues cloud-based digital certificates, allowing its customers to sign anywhere from whatever device. 

While mobile signatures are driving the paperless trend, there is still one barrier for a complete take off. And that is the identity verification of individuals in order to get a qualified digital certificate. A legal effect equivalent to a handwritten signature is given also by the fact that the Trust Service Provider (TSP) is checking the identity and Intesi Group has different mechanisms in place. In-person verification, remote video identification, or verification based on electronic identities. The latter one is giving the convenience and maintaining the high level of assurance. 

“In Intesi Group, we work every day to make our services accessible to all. Digitization must not be a mere adaptation of company’s internal processes, but rather an optimization of the business, a mindset change from which every party wins: service providers, customers, and, ultimately, the users. We have provided simple tools, keeping the privacy and security at highest level at the same time” says Francesco Vetrano – Business Development Manager in Intesi Group. “With that in mind we are continuously adapting and improving our electronic signature solutions with new technologies in order to allow fast access and convenient use to every citizen. The integration of SPID has exactly this goal“. 

Intesi Group has already integrated within its solutions several authentication services based on public and private Identity Providers (IdPs) that act as an enabler to Trust Services and to signature services. Since February 2021, Intesi Group is officially a SPID Service Provider, in compliance with AgID (Agency for Digital Italy the technical agency of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers) and is authorized to adopt SPID as a user identification system for access to the trust services offered. 

“Thanks to the direct integration with the SPID infrastructure, the end user authenticates and, Intesi Group receives – in a highly secure way – from the SPID provider a minimal and authorized set of user data based on which we are issuing the qualified electronic signature certificate ”- replies Francesco Barcellini – Head of Certification Services in Intesi Group. 

Now, as a Digital Identity (eID) with “High-Level of Assurance” based on the eIDAS classification, SPID will allow every Italian citizen to sign with a Qualified Electronic Signature any document through simple authentication with SPID credentials.