Moscow-based firms granted unified city identifier – Technologist

Moscow’s Department of Information Technology has granted businesses access to the unified city identifier called Mos.ID.

The identifier simplifies user access to online accounts in the city’s internet services, enabling Muscovites to use a wider range of online services, from payment of utility and telephone bills to internet banking, without worrying about the security of their personal data or having to remember numerous passwords.

“The new system will simplify life in the digital space, help to counter fraud and become a single point of entry into hundreds of internet services for citizens. In other words, it will do away with the need to memorize numerous passwords for various accounts,” said Denis Zhikharev, head of projects at DIT.

DIT has been rapidly developing and actively growing for the past five years. In recent years, it has created over a thousand systems and services, targeting to launch around 300 new projects annually. Currently, it has digitalized over 166 state services, more than any other region of Russia.

Verifiable and up-to-date personal data

The advantage of this entry system is that the data stored in it are always up to date.

Personal data entered when registering on the city portal are checked in government data bases, while user identity is verified in a multi-functional centre or through binding with a confirmed state services account and contains a number of verified details (social media confirm only the user’s telephone number and email address).

As a result, each user can have only one authentic account and companies can offer their services online (for example, provide the results of medical tests carried out in private clinics or statements from credit reference agencies, with no additional confirmation of identity).

With the user’s consent, verification of data (full name, passport data, address, age etc.) will expand opportunities for the provision of new online services, such as authentication in car sharing services and ad placement services, remote education, with internet providers or credit reference agencies, with no additional ID confirmation procedure.

A high level of security of users’ personal data is ensured by using two-factor authentication with an anti-hammering function. The system has been tested by the Federal Service for Technical and Export Control to ensure protection of the Personal Data Information System.

First adopters

One of the first companies to begin using the unified identifier is the Moscow City Telephone Network, which provides broadband internet access, digital TV, mobile and landline telephone, CCTV, intruder alarm and other services in Moscow and Moscow Region. In addition, the system is now live on the website of the Higher School of Economics – one of Russia’s leading higher educational institutions and is currently being integrated with more than 10 other projects.

“Mos.ru is the official portal of the mayor and government of Moscow. The main aim of the portal is to create a unified web space for the city, providing Muscovites with a single resource where they can find all the city platforms and online services they need,” said Zhikharev.

He added: “It also provides access to state services in electronic form, instructions on what to do in various life situations, news about the city, your district or neighbourhood, and information about upcoming events. The mos.ru portal provides access to more than 330 services and has over 8.2 million registered individual users and more than 38,500 corporate users.”

The services section was created on the bases of the most commonly occurring search requests. It brings together step-by-step instructions on what to do in 330 different life situations, such as making an appointment with a doctor, registering a vehicle, paying for parking or finding an impounded car. For convenience, the content is sorted by popularity in more than 14 categories (safety, courtyard, documents, house, health, education, work, family, sport, culture, leisure, transport, ecology and others). The What’s On section contains information about all city celebrations, festivals, fairs, campaigns, master classes, exhibitions, shows and sporting events. Users can apply filters to configure the service to their own interests by selecting, for example, only free events or events in their own district.

Meanwhile, the DIT of Moscow has also built 178 portals, including the official Mayor and Government of Moscow web-site “mos.ru”​. Furthermore, DIT has created systems that cover over 60 industries, including:

• Electronic queue for Civil registry office;
• Arrangement of remote medical appointments;
• Personal electronic medical records;
• Children assignment to kindergartens/schools/extracurricular activities;
• Providing schools with cutting edge technological equipment;
• Obtaining references, enquiries and services remotely;
• Numerous projects in housing and public amenities, starting from telemetrics and energetics to the possibility of submitting water usage information.