Austrians will finally have to change their digital identity from December 5. With this date, ID-Austria finally replaces the mobile phone signature that was previously in use. State Secretary for Digitalization (ÖVP) Florian Tursky justified the change with the technical security standards. In addition, the ID-Austria also meets European standards to be accepted in other EU countries.
“Austria has a very good and strong tradition when it comes to digital signatures,” Tursky told reporters on Tuesday. The corona pandemic also provided a ‘digitalization boost’. The signature mobile phone currently has 2.8 million users, but 1.5 million already have the ID-Austria in pilot use. The most common use case for a digital official channel is the finanz.online platform, which allows employee assessments to be carried out.
Full functionality only after activation by the authorities
According to Tursky, ID-Austria’s switch to mobile phone signature – which has been possible for a long time – should be simple and accessible. Anyone who logs in to the existing mobile signature from December 5 can transfer their account to the basic version in just a few steps. However, the full functionality of ID-Austria with many more options can only be activated by an authority, as this requires personal identification, for example via a passport.
According to the State Secretary, more than 400 public services are made available through ID-Austria. There are already 68 private sector services. For example, we are currently in discussions with banks about making loan processing easier with ID-Austria. An important factor for ID-Austria is compatibility within the EU. This makes it possible, for example, to identify yourself at a university abroad.
“There is no stress at all with the change,” Tursky also emphasized. This will also be possible long after December 5.
Source: Krone
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