CZ. NIC has connected the portal for Czech domain holders to the eIDAS network

In December, the Czech national domain administrator completed the integration of support for national electronic identities (eID) into the FRED registration system. This integration enabled linking of the national eID to a contact in the registry of the Czech national domain.

In December, the Czech national domain administrator completed the integration of support for national electronic identities (eID) into the FRED registration system. This integration enabled linking of the national eID to a contact in the registry of the Czech national domain. Domain holders coming from EU countries where the eID is already operational and has been notified according to the rules of the eIDAS Regulation, now have the opportunity to link the registration data with their national eID and at the same time use it for authentication into the services of the Czech registry, more precisely the Domain Browser, and to use its functions. With this step, the CZ.NIC Association concluded the last phase of the RegeID project.

The concept of recognition of an external identity that can be associated with a contact in the register emerged as an initiative of the CZ.NIC Association and has been developed in the past two years as part of the RegeID project. The project was supported by the European Commission and, in addition to the Czech Republic, it was joined by Denmark, Estonia and the Netherlands. RegeID’s main goal was to support the integration of eID tools by making the eIDAS infrastructure available as part of the services provided by the administrators of the four national top-level domains.

“There is growing pressure in Europe for domain registries to do more to combat cybercrime, in particular by verifying the identity of domain holders. This is also reflected in Article 23 of the proposed revision of the European safety directive NIS2. And one of the ways to identify users is by using an electronic identity. Thanks to the mojeID service, our Association is one of the pioneers in the use of electronic identity in this area, therefore we see this international project as a natural continuation of our strategy. Along with the option to confirm the identity of domain holders, this integration allows foreign holders a similar comfort and range of services enjoyed by users of the mojeID service,” commented Jaromír Talíř, technical partner of the CZ.NIC association, on the objectives of the project.

CZ.NIC has participated in the project by modernizing the Domain Browser web application that serves as an interface for on-line administration of .CZ domains. The application provides its users with the possibility to obtain an authorization code for domain transfer, set parameters for hiding data in WHOIS, lock the domain to protect it against changes, merge duplicate contacts or monitor DNS traffic. Until now, it was only possible to authenticate to the Domain Browser via the mojeID authentication service.

The functionality of the Domain Browser has been modified to allow the use of the national eID of other European countries. Upon first login, users must identify themselves as an existing contact in the domain registry. Only then can the user start enjoying the services offered by the application.

Details of the Domain Browser web application are available at https://www.domenovyprohlizec.cz/; more information about the RegeID project can be obtained at https://regeid.eu/.