BankID is a personal

electronic identification An electronic identification ("eID") is a digital solution for proof of identity of citizens or organizations. They can be used to view to access benefits or services provided by government authorities, banks or other companies, for mobile paymen ...

system in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, that is used for identification and signing. The service is provided by the

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s in Norway. BankID is a

Public Key Infrastructure A public key infrastructure (PKI) is a set of roles, policies, hardware, software and procedures needed to create, manage, distribute, use, store and revoke digital certificates and manage public-key encryption. The purpose of a PKI is to fac ...

(PKI) solution, and has support for both authentication and signing. The solution consists of a central infrastructure operated by ''Nets'' (formerly ''Bankenes BetalingsSentral'') and of several client versions in different forms.

History

The solution was developed through ''BankID Samarbeidet'', which is a collaboration between the Norwegian Financial Services Association and Norwegian Savings Banks Association (these organizations were later partially merged and are now called '' Finans Norge''). The BankID service, sometimes also called BankID on file, was first launched in 2003. A digital certificate and a secret crypto-key were first stored on the computer's hard drive. In 2005 BankID on card was launched. A secret private code key was stored in the

Smart card A smart card (SC), chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card), is a card used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an Embedded system, embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip. Many smart ...

's chip, which acted as a hard certificate. This was considered more secure as it generally requires physical access to the card to function. The card could be a credit card or a pure bankid card. The card can be delivered with or without a photograph, and could act as an identification document. In 2010 a mobile version was launched where the private key was stored on the phone

SIM Card A typical SIM card (mini-SIM with micro-SIM cutout)A SIM card or SIM (subscriber identity module) is an integrated circuit (IC) intended to securely store an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number and its related key, which are u ...

. In 2007, professor of IT security at the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

, Kjell Jørgen Hole, together with doctoral students, demonstrated that it was possible to steal identities in this solution. As a result the key was moved to be stored at the bank and this became the most popular version. In 2022, BankID informed that the service on mobile will gradually be phased out and replaced by the BankID app. As of 2025, BankID on mobile (not the BankID App) has been phased out completely.

Versions

There is a "softlocal" version, a "net-centric/bank-stored" version and a mobile version. * The Softlocal version was never rolled out to customers, and was based on the certificate being available on the individual user's computer. * The bank-stored version is the most widespread as of 2021. * BankID on mobile is offered as of 2021 by all mobile operators in Norway. The solution is based on qualified certificates self-declared at the

Norwegian Communications Authority The Norwegian Communications Authority (), prior to 2015 the Norwegian Post and Telecommunications Authority () is a Norwegian government agency responsible for controlling and regulating the telecommunication and postal sector of Norway. The ag ...

, in the same way as Buypass ID and Commfides. Over 4.2 million Norwegians use BankID, mainly to access online services at Norwegian banks, but also in public services and ID-Porten. This means that BankID, together with

MinID MinID is an electronic login system used to secure a range of internet services in the Norwegian public sector. The communication done with MinID is encrypted to secure information from unauthorized usage. Everyone registered in the Norwegia ...

, is the most widespread electronic identity solution in Norway. BankID meets the highest security level, level 4. There is also a Swedish version of BankID, although they are not related to each other.

References

{{reflist Identity documents Banking in Norway

History

Versions

See also

References