The Faroe Islands—implementing digital ID in two years

Area 1,399 km
Population 54,000
National Cyber Security Index 84.42 (Denmark) (2023)
Digital Development Level 82.68 (Denmark) (2023)

An integral part of the digitalisation strategy of the Faroe Islands was building and implementing a digital ID. The public tender for this was announced in 2017. It was important for the Faroese that their digital identity was built by locals and run by locals. Hence, the tender was won by the consortium of a telecom and an IT company, which managed to build and launch the system in two and a half years.

While the Faroe Islands benefited from Estonia’s example through collaboration with eGA, they were not copying the Estonian solution. By that time, technology had matured to the extent that their solution was primarily smartphone-centric. Estonian electronic identification is PKI (public key infrastructure) based and so relies on a secure hardware element under the sole control of the user. While the Estonian electronic identity is utilised on smartcard (ID-card) or mobile SIM card (Mobile-ID) or as a secure server with a mobile app (Smart-ID), the Faroese one is also PKI-based, but with some major differences. One is the solution itself, which is app-based; the user’s private key is placed on a secure module on the smartphone, and thus the user has sole control of it. When users want to authenticate themselves, they are prompted to open the eID app and enter a six-digit identifier. The same process can be used for digital signatures.

Another major difference is the unique onboarding process. Users can acquire their digital identity online; a machine-learning algorithm compares the selfie the user takes of himself with the picture on his passport, which he also needs to upload. Acquiring a digital ID remotely is an unprecedented solution globally.

Nicolai Balle, head of Digital Faroe Islands, is proud that the eID corresponds to the highest international standards. Although the Faroes are not part of the EU, its eID is compliant with eIDAS (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services). It is also regularly audited and certified internationally.

Moreover, in order to boost implementation, the eID also complies with the highest international standards of accessibility (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG). This ensures that people with different needs – with dyslexia or impaired vision – are able to use the service. As a result, Mr. Balle reports, 90% of eligible users use eID. Most do it using the app, but the Digital Faroe Islands have also developed a USB token for those without a smartphone.

What lies behind the fast and widespread acceptance of the digital ID? For one thing, the Faroe Islands have tinkered with IT since the 1980s. But more importantly, the islands have a very high education level, and people are generally digitally mature. While their archipelago has only three underwater cables connecting them to the rest of the world, they have broadband in most homes and have long had 4G. This, plus generally high trust in the government, ensured that the eID was implemented nationwide in only two years.

Currently, nearly 20 service providers use eID. Importantly, all the banks are on board. While there was some hesitation from the banks in the early stage of implementation because they were using the Danish centralised eID solution, eventually they realised that the national one would be better. This is all the more important, given that 80% of the identifications are for bank transactions.

“The Faroe Islands have not been resting on their laurels,” says Mr. Balle. “We are currently developing a digital identity wallet that initially would include the citizen’s card and the driver’s license.”

Digital ID is also used by the public to check their personal data in public databases and oversee who is using it. In this way, eID is contributing to the democratisation of society.

Lessons learned:

• Gain inspiration from international best practice, but develop the digital identity that suits your country.
• Digital identity should be accessible to everyone and from various devices.
• Digitally mature countries and citizens are more ready to implement digital identity quickly. Be patient if your country does not rate high in digital-maturity indexes.
• Give people a good reason to use digital identity by onboarding influential enterprises such as banks and letting people access their own data and monitor its use.