Service certificates

Service certificates are software certificates granted by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency used to authenticate a service provider’s service or server. Service certificates are granted for various uses:

• server certificate
• e-mail certificate
• system signature certificates

The Digital and Population Data Services Agency produces service certificates and system signature certificates needed for the use of Kanta Services for social welfare and healthcare organisations.

The purpose of a service certificate is to guarantee that a service provider’s (organisation or private person) server or service belongs to the correct certificate holder. A service certificate therefore allows the service user to verify the authenticity of the service provider. Service certificates can be used to authenticate both public administration and private sector services.

A server certificate allows the web service user to verify the authenticity of the service provider. Service certificates also facilitate the encryption of data exchange between a server and its user.

E-mail certificates are needed in an organisation for the use of individual e-mail addresses monitored by numerous people.

A system signature certificate is used to sign electronically documents that are not signed using personal certificates.

There are also test certificates available that are intended for use in test environments.

Service certificates are based on the X.509 standard and they can be used to enable SSL protected data transfers between a browser and server or between two servers.