A-Trust’s QualiSig project has received 60,000 euros of Austrian government funding for a new blockchain-based research project to provide secure crisis communications between authorities and citizens in times of COVID-19 crisis.
As announced on June 18, the QualiSig project, launched by Austrian comms specialist A-Trust, will utilize the Ignis child chain, part of the Ardor blockchain from Swiss company Jelurida.
#COVID19 Prävention – Unser Forschungsprojekt #QualiSig sorgt durch die Kombination von digitalen Signaturen mit Blockchain-Technologien für eine sichere Behörden-Kommunikation, dabei werden drei Prototypen entwickelt: https://t.co/VavbLl2tdm #Coronakrise #CoronaEmergencyCall pic.twitter.com/TWquw2eMwI — A-Trust (@A_Trust_GmbH) June 8, 2020
QualiSig received a grant of 60,000 euros ($67,300) from the Austrian government followed by an emergency call for companies needing funding for COVID-19 research.
The project uses transparent and encrypted communications, secure and decentralized data storage.
Citizens will have the sole responsibility for control over their data, using qualified digital signatures through their mobile devices.
A-Trust CEO, Michael Butz, explained:
“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. 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.
Source: Cointelegraph | Jelurida | Image: Pixabay