Development of secure Internet applications for governmental environments

The translation of public administrative procedures to the Internet would produce important benefits in the accessibility efficiency and transparency of interaction, and especially in the satisfaction of citizens. It would also produce important economic benefits because of the reduction in the costs of those procedures (paper forms, human processing, time, etc.). But the potential advances that Internet could introduce in the relations between citizens and governmental administration have not been fully realized because of the lack of mechanisms to provide confidentiality, authenticity, nonrepudiation and other important security services in a global scale. We examine the security features of Project Alcance. The Project has been included in the Spanish R&D Programme and is concerned with the electronic relations between private transport companies and the regional government of Andalucia.