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Online ID card: What users should know
Updated 11/20/2024 – 10:29 amReading time: 4 min.
The electronic ID card function is becoming increasingly popular. But how does activation work? And what can the E-ID be used for?
Open a bank account, activate the new SIM card for your cell phone or apply for a certificate of good conduct. In everyday life there are many things for which you have to authenticate yourself with your ID card.
More and more companies and authorities are also accepting the identification function of the electronic ID card. But how exactly it can be used, what tools are necessary and where it works are unclear to many people.
The online ID function extends the classic identity into the digital world and makes it possible to identify oneself online without any doubt. The function is also called E-ID and can be used with all newer ID cards. “For citizens who received their ID card in 2017 or later, the online ID card is automatically activated,” explains a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
If you have a person with an activated electronic ID function, you first have to activate the function – either directly when you pick it up at the Citizens’ Registration Office or later at home. You also received a five-digit, so-called transport PIN. Once this has been entered, you still have to set something up in order to be able to use the function.
“This requires a six-digit PIN code that can be used for all authentication processes,” explains Agnes Bührmann from the management consultancy Publicis Sapient. NFC-enabled smartphones or external card readers are suitable for reading the e-mail. So-called smart card readers are available from around 15 euros.
In addition to the transport PIN, you also received another code: the so-called PUK. As with the SIM card for the smartphone, the PUK is required if the PIN has been entered incorrectly three times. And there is also a blocking password that must be mentioned if you want to have the E-Perso blocked by telephone after it has been stolen or lost. Therefore, the letter containing all this information should be kept safe.
The online ID can be used for official transactions online, but also for all kinds of services from finance to telecommunications to health. “If you want to open a bank account, you can do so using your online ID card, for example at ING or at a savings bank,” a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior gives examples. “The activation of a SIM card is possible with the online ID card from Vodafone and Congstar, among others.”
The tax return can also be sent using E-Persos. Other possible uses include identification for the electronic patient file at various health insurance companies as well as for numerous public services: pension insurance information, certificates of good conduct or the BAFÖG portal. In addition, the online ID can of course also be
Banks, insurance companies, telecommunications providers or other companies that accept online ID either mark this with the green-blue E-ID logo or refer to the online ID function in writing. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, there are currently around 255 applications from administration and business that are listed on the ID card portal.
At home, in addition to a smartphone with an activated NFC function or a card reader to read your e-mail, you also need some software: the federal ID app must be installed on your smartphone and computer. There is no need to worry about the security of sensitive data: “The data is always encrypted and is only transmitted if the six-digit PIN has been entered beforehand,” says the spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior.