First of all, it is the admission of a problem. Faced with ever more curious applications, faced with the multiplication of data theft scandals, and faced with the growing robolution of society, can we – as individuals – trust the companies and services to which we delegate a growing part of our daily lives as connected men and women? It is then the observation of a paradox: how to help this inescapable technological evolution, at the same time protecting the private sphere of the citizens and guaranteeing the democracy, in front of tools always more greedy in personal data in order to propose us efficient services?

Far from the naivety of the early days of the Internet, digital trust is the crucial issue of this century. The patient’s medical file, the electronic identity, the Covid-19 certificate… there are many examples of public mistrust of technical solutions, outsourced to the private sector, accompanying the digital transformation of our society.Because trust is broken? The example of Estonia reminds us that this trust can be restored. In 2007, the Baltic country deployed a technology that can satisfy the need to secure digital information against any penetration test or untimely modification and thus to trust it. Today, Estonia is the only country to offer fully digitized government services, which do not require any physical or human interaction.

A pioneer in e-gov, Estonia owes this revolution to GuardTime, which, in partnership with the Vaud-based security company SICPA and Softcom, is developing e-government solutions that go beyond the integrity of a digital transaction. At Softcom, we are convinced that the Estonian model can be applied to Switzerland to offer citizens and companies the possibility of securing a decision-making process as well as any type of certificate, regardless of its format, paper or digital, such as a certificate of origin, a criminal record excerpts or the register of commerce, a vaccination certificate, thanks to the CERTUS® service.

Softcom has also submitted project applications to integrate these services in seven Swiss cantons.. The digital responsibility concerns the State, companies, citizens and public policies. Security, privacy and data sovereignty are at the heart of the applications to enable public authorities expected by companies and the public in complete safety.The guarantee of trust.