[kictanet] Government acts on driving e-commerce growth

Dorcas Muthoni dmuthoni at gmail.com
Thu Mar 21 08:23:14 EAT 2013


Sounds very good..can you please share with us envisaged use cases
especially for Government-2-Citizen, e-commerce providers deploying SaaS
solutions.

Alternatively, please give us a link to more detailed information on
services accessible via the infrastructure to application developers.

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 4:59 PM, Phyllis Nyambura <pnyambura at ict.go.ke>wrote:

> *Government acts on driving e-commerce growth*
>
>
> **
>
> *Establishment of a secure online environment will be implemented come
> October
> *
>
>
> **
>
> *Nairobi 20th March, 2013: *The government through the Kenya ICT board,
> Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and Directorate of E-government,
> today held a forum with stakeholders to sensitise them on what it will take
> to secure online transactions. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), is the
> national system that the government is implementing to provide digital
> certification services.
>
>
> Through the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), the government will set up an
> online identity and verification system where each citizen will be issued
> with a unique online identity (digital certificate) that will be required
> whenever they take part in online transactions. The project is being
> implemented by Korea technology company Samsung SDS.
>
>
> “Electronic signing is the most ensuring method to help solve a lot of the
> on-line crimes we see such as hacking, identity theft and forgery of
> sensitive information. Interested individuals will apply for a digital
> certificate using their name and ID number and later called in for a
> face-to-face authentication process by the Accredited Certificate
> Authority. Following the verification process, the applicants will then be
> authorized to download the digital certificate to the PC or USB (HSM
> token),” explained Evans Kahuthu, Project Manager Information Security at
> the Kenya ICT Board.
>
>
> The online certificate will be a unique Internet ID (a cryptographic key)
> that will facilitate access to on-line government services leading to
> increased online business.
>
>
>
> “Going forward, we will be getting into complex, sophisticated and very
> hard to investigate organized cybercrime. It is therefore prudent that the
> government readies itself to tackle these new challenges,” said Francis
> Mwaura, Senior Assistant Director, and Directorate of E-Government.
>
>  “As the government moves to automate and digitize its records,
> e-government will handle a lot of sensitive data, and this calls for
> security of these records,” added Francis Mwaura.
>
>
>
> The project expected date of completion is October and it will be piloted
> at the Kenya Revenue Authority before a roll-out to other government
> agencies and ministries. This will mean that those applying for KRA online
> services e.g tax returns and pin certificates will have to apply for
> digital certificates before they are allowed to transact.
>
>
> “Internet users have to struggle with a trade-off between convenience and
> security. As countries all over the world are making progress in
> e-government, all offline activities are being changed into online ones
> like e-commerce, e-banking, e-procurement and e-bidding through the
> internet. That’s why PKI is so crucial at this time,” said Samsung SDS Vice
> President, Sungwon Han.
>
>
>    “Kenya is taking the lead in East Africa,” said Michael Katundu,
> Director Information Technology at CCK, who also chairs the Cyber Security
> Steering Committee in the region. CCK will be the root certification
> authority and will also accredit private companies who will issue
> certification to online users on their behalf. Full details of who
> qualifies to be an accreditter will be published on CCK website (www.*cck*
> .go.ke).
>
>
> Immediate beneficiaries of PKI are those that rely heavily on
> e-transactions among them; Banks, Tax bodies (KRA), online businesses and
> those that hold sensitive information like Medical service providers, legal
> entities and government ministries like the Immigration and Lands.
>
>
> In *2009*, Kenya passed the amendment legislation introducing the
> regulation of Electronic Signatures (E-Signature) into the Kenya
> Information and Communications Act, *Cap 411A *(as part of
> e-transactions).
>
> Subsequent *subsidiary legislation* to operationalise this framework was
> designed in 2010 in the form of Kenya Information and Communications
> (Electronic Certification and Domain Name Administration) Regulations, 2010.
>
>
>
> *For more information contact pnyambura at ict.go.ke*
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Phyllis Nyambura
> Communication Writer
> Kenya ICT Board
>
> Telposta Towers, 12th Floor, Kenyatta Ave
> P.O. Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya
> t: + 254-020-2211960/62 | m: + 254 (0) 789396433 | e: pnyambura at ict.go.ke
>
> Visit: www.ict.go.ke
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-- 
Muthoni

My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/
--------------------------------------------
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Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight you,
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