[LINK] government agencies' use of digital certificates

Roger Clarke Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au
Wed Sep 6 12:50:58 AEST 2006


At 9:50 +0800 6/9/06, brd at iimetro.com.au wrote:
>Does anyone know, without doing a whole lot of research, which/how many
>Australian government agencies enforce digital certificates for communication
>with all external parties?

Taken literally, an agency would most likely be in breach of the AGAF 
if they enforced dig sigs in respect of all communications, or all 
parties.

It's a requirement that identity authentication be undertaken only to 
the extent that it is justified by the risks being managed, and only 
with the level of inconvenience, cost and intrusiveness imposition on 
the other party that is commensurate with those risks.

For various reasons, dig sig penetration has been signally unsuccessful.

That said, there are a couple of operational applications, in 
particular the ATO for BAS and similar - a requirement that is 
imposed on medium and large corporations.

I'm not sure whether any of the attempts in the health care sector 
have ever borne fruit.

[Caveat:  I've been both a consultant and an advocate in this area 
for a long time, and my views on the matter might be seen to taint my 
comments  (:-)}

Relevant Links:
http://www.agimo.gov.au/infrastructure/authentication/agaf_b 
http://www.agimo.gov.au/infrastructure/authentication

http://www.agimo.gov.au/infrastructure/gatekeeper
http://www.gatekeeper.gov.au/gatekeeper
http://www.gatekeeper.gov.au/gatekeeper/accredited
http://www.gatekeeper.gov.au/gatekeeper/abn-dsc

-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/

Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW



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