Publication: Public Key Infrastructure: Implementing High-Trust Electronic Signatures
Loading...
Date
2025-01-13
ISSN
Published
2025-01-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This note is designed to be read alongside the companion policy note on electronic signatures, which explains the role of PKI in implementing cryptographically secured digital signatures within a national electronic signature framework. The present note extends this analysis through practical guidance on implementing PKI at scale, ensuring government efforts complement private sector investments. By surveying different approaches, the note showcases diverse strategies that policymakers can draw from when designing and building their own national PKI ecosystems. This analysis is illustrated through illustrative case studies drawn from countries and organizations across various regions and income levels, namely India, Brazil, the United States, South Korea, Estonia, Saudi Arabia, The Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, and Lebanon, as well as the European Union and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Tullis, Christopher; Black, David. 2025. Public Key Infrastructure: Implementing High-Trust Electronic Signatures. Digital Public Infrastructure Policy Note Series; December 2024. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42663 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Jordan Digital Public Infrastructure Diagnostic(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-02-13)In recent years, Jordan has increasingly strengthened its commitment to enhancing public service delivery through digital public infrastructure (DPI). DPI refers to foundational and reusable digital platforms and building blocks—such as digital ID, digital payments, and data sharing—that underpin the development and delivery of trusted, digitally-enabled services across the public and private sectors, including social protection, health, public finance, and banking. Jordan’s National Digital Transformation Strategy and Implementation Plan for 2021-2025 reflects the country’s strategic commitment, with the Government actively establishing DPI building blocks, such as digital identity and data sharing platforms to accelerate the digitalization of public services using a secure and scalable architecture. Despite these increased efforts, the adoption of digitalized public services remains limited. Only about 1.4 million Jordanians are registered on Sanad, the integrated e-services platform that is central to the country’s digital public service delivery. This diagnostic provides a comprehensive review of the digital public service delivery enabled by Jordan’s DPI ecosystem and presents recommendations on features that bolster trust, interoperability, security, and people centricity.Publication Socialist Republic of Vietnam Study on e‐ID Infrastructure to Improve Public Services Delivery(Washington, DC, 2015-04)This study presents the vision and implementation recommendations for the electronic identity based service delivery framework (EISDF) in Vietnam. It also delineates the roles to be played by the diverse stakeholders (private, public, development community, etc.) in the field. The study recommends various relevant and innovative electronic identity (eID) services that can be implemented to transform and enhance the accountability and efficiency of service delivery across sectors. These recommendations are based on the stocktaking of international experiences and identified possibilities based on the country assessment. Special emphasis is placed on eID systems that operate on mobile phones, and on those that have the potential of being scaled up by both the public and private sectors in Vietnam. The eID systems can help reduce identity fraud and enable individuals to avail of services more securely in a variety of contexts as in mobile banking and mobile applications for health care.Publication Information and Communication Technologies for Health Systems Strengthening(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-01)Information and communication technologies (ICT) for health or eHealth solutions hold great potential for generating systemic efficiencies by strengthening five critical pillars of a health system: human resources for health, supply chain management, health care financing, governance and service delivery, and infrastructure. This report describes the changing landscape of eHealth initiatives through these five pillars, with a geographic focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. This report further details seven criteria, or prerequisites, that must be considered and addressed in order to effectively establish and scale up ICT-based solutions in the health sector. These criteria include infrastructure, data and interoperability standards, local capacity, policy and regulatory environments, an appropriate business model, alignment of partnerships and priorities, and monitoring and evaluation. In order to bring specific examples of these criteria to light, this report concludes with 12 specific case studies of potentially scalable ICT-based health care solutions currently being implemented across the globe at community, national, and regional levels. This report is intended to be used by development practitioners, including task team leaders at the World Bank, to strengthen their understanding of the use of ICT to support health systems strengthening (HSS) efforts as well as to highlight critical prerequisites needed to optimize the benefits of ICT for health.Publication Liberia's Infrastructure : A Continental Perspective(2011-03-01)Liberia's power generating capacity and national grid were completely demolished during 14 years of civil war. Piped water access fell from 15 percent of the population in 1986 to less than 3 percent in 2008. War also left the national road network in a state of severe disrepair. Since the return of peace, the port of Monrovia has resumed normal operations under private management, and progress has been made in securing donor finance for road reconstruction. Liberia has also successfully liberalized its mobile telephone markets, with low-priced access surging to 40 percent in 2009. Liberia's starkest challenge lies in funding a more cost-effective power sector. The country's generation capacity is barely one-tenth of the benchmark level of Africa's other low-income countries. The cost of generating power is exorbitant, and the power tariff is three times the regional average. Addressing Liberia's public infrastructure needs will require sustained expenditures of between $350 million and $600 million annually, mostly to fund power and transport. In the mid-2000s, with all sources of spending taken into account, Liberia spent around $90 million a year on infrastructure. An additional $17 million was lost to inefficiencies, such as underpricing of power. Because Liberia suffers an annual funding gap of between $250 million and $500 million per year, it will need a combination of increased finance, improved efficiency, and cost-reducing innovations to reach its infrastructure targets in a reasonable time. Without these, Liberians may have to wait for up to 40 years to achieve the targets.Publication Kenya : Rural Electrification Access Expansion Study(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-06)The Government of Kenya adopted in 2004 an Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation (ERSWEC), which recognizes three main pillars for economy recovery namely: (i) strengthening economic growth; (ii) enhancing equity and reducing poverty; and (iii) improving governance. The ERSWEC reiterates that the achievement of the three pillars is dependent on adequate and reliable access to least-cost energy. Since agriculture continues to be the mainstay of Kenya's economy, ensuring adequate access to electricity in rural areas is an important component to achieving the objectives of the ERSWEC. This is confirmed by investigations made by this study regarding specific energy needs for the different sectors of productive and social activities in the rural areas, for agriculture, livestock, fishery, tea and coffee cooperatives, telecommunications, water pumping and health and education services.The Government of Kenya has adopted a National Energy formulated in the Sessional Paper No 4 of 2004 consistent with the ERSWEC, which set double target of a 20% access rate to electricity in rural areas and 40% in 2020.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-01-16)Global growth is expected to hold steady at 2.7 percent in 2025-26. However, the global economy appears to be settling at a low growth rate that will be insufficient to foster sustained economic development—with the possibility of further headwinds from heightened policy uncertainty and adverse trade policy shifts, geopolitical tensions, persistent inflation, and climate-related natural disasters. Against this backdrop, emerging market and developing economies are set to enter the second quarter of the twenty-first century with per capita incomes on a trajectory that implies substantially slower catch-up toward advanced-economy living standards than they previously experienced. Without course corrections, most low-income countries are unlikely to graduate to middle-income status by the middle of the century. Policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment, enhance macroeconomic stability, reduce structural constraints, address the effects of climate change, and thus accelerate long-term growth and development.Publication Pathways to Prosperity for Adolescent Girls in Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-10)Africa stands at a crossroads, with its future prosperity hinging on the policy and investment decisions it makes today. The continent has an opportunity to shape the trajectories of generations to come by investing in the success of a pivotal population: its adolescent girls. With over 145 million adolescent girls calling Africa home, the potential for transformative change is immense. Yet challenges persist: from high rates of child marriage to limited educational opportunities. Over half of African girls ages 15 to 19 are out of school or married or have children. How can African countries overcome these challenges to ensure that adolescent girls enter adulthood empowered to thrive? Pathways to Prosperity for Adolescent Girls in Africa offers a groundbreaking road map for change. This landmark report: Outlines concrete, actionable policy recommendations; Provides a comprehensive review of evidence-based interventions; Presents a data-driven categorization of African countries to guide investments in adolescent girls; and Introduces an innovative framework for understanding and measuring adolescent girls’ empowerment. Drawing on extensive research and consultations with adolescent girls, policy makers, and practitioners, this report reveals that investing in adolescent girls can yield a tenfold return in economic impact. It outlines six key areas for targeted action: building human capital, enhancing economic success, focusing on the most vulnerable girls, adopting a holistic approach, addressing data and evidence gaps, and mobilizing diverse stakeholders. Whether you are a policy maker, researcher, development practitioner, or advocate, this report will equip you with the knowledge and tools to drive meaningful change. Discover how empowering adolescent girls can transform individual lives and African economies. Join the movement to secure a brighter future for Africa’s adolescent girls and nations alike. The time for action is now.Publication World Bank Annual Report 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-25)This annual report, which covers the period from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, has been prepared by the Executive Directors of both the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA)—collectively known as the World Bank—in accordance with the respective bylaws of the two institutions. Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors, has submitted this report, together with the accompanying administrative budgets and audited financial statements, to the Board of Governors.Publication The State of Economic Inclusion Report 2024: Pathways to Scale(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-11-20)The State of Economic Inclusion Report (SEI) 2024 explores efforts to scale up economic inclusion programs - bundles of coordinated, multidimensional interventions that support individuals, households, and communities to sustainably increase their incomes and assets - in the context of overlapping crisis. These programs transform the economic lives of the poorest and most vulnerable people, building their resilience and creating job opportunities. The report features data from 405 programs across 88 countries, benefiting over 70 million individuals either directly or indirectly. This marks almost doubling in the number of programs and nearly a 50 percent increase in coverage since the SEI 2021 report. Governments continue to lead in scaling up these economic inclusion programs, covering nearly three-fourths of program participants. However, non-governmental programs have also significantly contributed to the increase in coverage in recent years, in addition to serving as both service providers and capacity building providers for governments. The report offers five important contributions: 1) Positioning economic inclusion programs as crucial for building resilience and providing job opportunities for the poor and vulnerable in the face of overlapping crises. 2) Analyzing the global landscape over the past three years, highlighting the extent to which economic inclusion programs are being customized for diverse contexts and groups, including a cross-cutting focus on gender. 3) Reviewing progress and challenges in the design and implementation of government-led programs, including the interplay with communities, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. 4) Examining the emerging agenda of designing economic inclusion programs to enhance the long-term climate resilience of poor and vulnerable individuals and communities. 5) Featuring three spotlights that unpack emerging evidence from government-led programs, customization strategies targeting youth, and the increasing role of digital tools and technologies in program delivery. Data from the report are available on the PEI Data Portal (www.peiglobal.org).Publication Business Ready 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-03)Business Ready (B-READY) is a new World Bank Group corporate flagship report that evaluates the business and investment climate worldwide. It replaces and improves upon the Doing Business project. B-READY provides a comprehensive data set and description of the factors that strengthen the private sector, not only by advancing the interests of individual firms but also by elevating the interests of workers, consumers, potential new enterprises, and the natural environment. This 2024 report introduces a new analytical framework that benchmarks economies based on three pillars: Regulatory Framework, Public Services, and Operational Efficiency. The analysis centers on 10 topics essential for private sector development that correspond to various stages of the life cycle of a firm. The report also offers insights into three cross-cutting themes that are relevant for modern economies: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. B-READY draws on a robust data collection process that includes specially tailored expert questionnaires and firm-level surveys. The 2024 report, which covers 50 economies, serves as the first in a series that will expand in geographical coverage and refine its methodology over time, supporting reform advocacy, policy guidance, and further analysis and research.