Austrian Government to Utilize Ardor Blockchain for Secure COVID-19 Data Comms Pilot

LUGANO, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / June 18, 2020 / One of Jelurida’s flagship products, the Ardor child chain Ignis, will be utilized by a new research project aiming to facilitate secure communication between Austrian authorities, institutions and citizens. Jelurida will participate as a key partner and provide consultancy for the QualiSig project.

Launched by Austrian trust service provider (A-Trust) in partnership with several organizations including the Donau-Universität Krems, QualiSig’s goal is to ensure secure communication channels for data exchange between citizens, government agencies, and institutions commissioned by authorities in times of crisis.

With COVID-related communications entailing major data protection concerns, QualiSig was recently awarded a €60,000 grant from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation, and Technology and the Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs after responding to the Corona Emergency Call of the Research Promotion Agency (FFG) for COVID-19 prevention.

QualiSig depends on transparent, encrypted communications with testing personnel, and secure and decentralized storage of data. Data control will be the sole responsibility of citizens, with no special computer skills required.

“The mobile phone signature, with around 1.5 million users, is a widely used tool and has stood for highly secure authentication in the digital world for ten years,” said Michael Butz, CEO of A-Trust. “With the QualiSig project, we would like to provide people living in Austria with the necessary security for secure and traceable communication in these difficult times.”

The research proposal was written by Thomas Wernbacher and Alexander Pfeiffer of Donau-Universität Krems, and the combination of digital qualified signatures such as the “A-Trust Handy-Signature” and Ardor’s Ignis child chain is based on Pfeiffer’s current research.

“This project will combine qualified digital signatures based on compliant digital citizenship solutions with blockchain technology having the best of both worlds – government-approved authentication combined with a unique decentralized and encrypted data storage.” said Kristina Kalcheva, co-founder of Jelurida.

QualiSig was one of several projects to receive funding after the Austrian Research Promotion Agency’s Corona Emergency Call, with 26 million euros made available.

Use case: Health

The secure digital folder for health status verification takes into account the highest possible level of privacy for citizens and all related institutions and services. In addition, digitally signed and verified news updates can be displayed here, helping to combat the spread of fake news.

About Jelurida

Founded in Switzerland in 2017, Jelurida is a software company that develops and maintains the Ardor and Nxt blockchains. Now a multinational organization with offices on three continents, Jelurida is focused on helping enterprises capitalize on the benefits of blockchain through making it easier to deploy applications connected to the open Ardor and Nxt networks.

For more information please visit: www.jelurida.com

About A-Trust

A-Trust GmbH is an Austrian company that offers services for secure communication in the digital and mobile world. The focus of its diverse services is on confidentiality, integrity, and convenience as well as the creation of secure digital signatures. The company is a qualified trusted service provider according to eIDAS regulation. A-Trust, Gesellschaft für Sicherheitssysteme im elektronischen Datenverkehr, is subject to regular controls by the Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs-GmbH.

Fore more information please visit: https://www.a-trust.at/

About Donau-Universität Krems

Donau-Universität Krems is the leading public university for continuing education in Europe. With its expertise in teaching and research, it works to overcome societal challenges. The Centre for Applied Game Studies and the Department for E-Governance are both involved in the QualiSig project.

More information on the Corona Emergency Call and QualiSig: https://www.ffg.at/

Contact:

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SOURCE: Jelurida

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