Smart-ID is among the most popular online personal identification tools in Lithuania,which is used by more than 1.2 million citizens. It can be used free of charge to access not only one’s bank accounts and the portals of other companies and organisations, but also to sign documents, which are equivalent to those signed by hand. This function has been more often applied by company representatives during the quarantine.
“Free Smart-ID app has been used by Lithuanian and other Baltic States – Latvian and Estonian – citizens last week to perform on average 2 million operations per day. Traditionally, it was usually used when connecting to personal banking or other financial institutions’ online accounts, also to the portals of companies, which supplies gas or electricity,” Viktoras Kamarevcevas, business manager in Lithuania for SK ID Solutions, told. SK ID Solutions is the company, which created the online authentication tool Smart-ID.
The e-signature and personal authentication technology company Dokobit also urges citizens to adhere to all recommendations during the quarantine: not visit public locations, avoid any physical contact and given the necessity, sign business documents remotely by using electronic measures.
“The number of documents signed electronically more than doubled last week, and this shows that businesses understand the meaning of the quarantine and adhere to it because they are exchanging documents online and not on paper. A document signed by a remotely qualified e-signature on our portal has the same legal power as handwritten, there’s no way to forge such a document,” Gintas Balčiūnas, the head of Dokobit emphasises. “Documents on the Dokobit portal can be signed not only using Smart-ID, but also by other electronic authentication solutions: mobile signature, personal ID card or a cryptographic USB drive,” he said.
V. Kamarcevas also reminds that in February, innovative biometric registration method for Smart-ID was launched. The electronic identity solution, which can be used to remotely, without visiting bank’s branches, create a new Smart-ID account, when smart device is replaced, when the account is due to expire or has expired, renew a Smart-ID Basic account to a qualified Smart-ID, which can be used not only to connect to one’s bank account, but also be used for all e-services.
“Due to security requirements, user’s Smart-ID account is valid for three years. Afterwards, it must be renewed. Therefore, from February onwards, around 15-18 thousand Smart-ID account holders in Lithuania can conveniently renew theirs every month. It can be done within a few minutes by using biometric identification and following directions in their app on their smart device. Over the first month, more than 20 thousand app users have made use of the electronic identity solution already,” V. Kamarevcevas said.
