Australian smartcard company Keycorp is involved in a deal to supply the US Postal Service with smartcards for e-filing purposes.
The US Postal Service has introduced a new Internet-based service which uses a NetPost.Certified smartcard, designed to enable government agencies to secure and authenticate electronic correspondence.
Using the Postal Service's Electronic Postmark and Certificate Authority, NetPost.Certified allows government users to obtain a digital certificate to assist in e-filing.
The certificate is stored on a NetPost.Certified smartcard, which enables users to send electronic files securely and privately to government computers.
"Just as the existing physical Certified Mail service provides a return receipt verifying delivery, the NetPost.Certified service generates an electronic return receipt by the Postal Service verifying delivery of each transaction," a US Postal Service statement said.
The authority says NetPost.Certified was specifically designed to support e-government initiatives by expediting the movement of documents online, and "ensuring users that those documents sent electronically would be secure and private at all times while in transit."
Through its relationship with US security firm TECSEC, Keycorp is part of a group of technology suppliers developing the e-filing initiative.
"The Social Security Administration (SSA) was the first federal agency to sign up for this service, and will be prototyping NetPost.Certified for several applications, including obtaining vital statistics records from state governments."
