News

User account registration

User account registration

Published:

QES Portal users can look forward to another batch of service improvements. However, in order for us to provide these improvements, we need your cooperation. It consists of voluntary user account registration during which you just simply and quickly enter your e-mail and password.

Even the fastest registration can sometimes cause delays. We therefore made sure that QES Portal remains usable even for unregistered users. Without the registration, it is still possible to validate signatures exactly as before. An important change is that for signature creation without the registration we have introduced a new motivational limit of 5 signatures per year. If you happen to reach it, we will ask you to register. Registered users can create unlimited number of signatures, just like before.

In the following updates, we would like to introduce additional benefits for registered users. One of them is the presence of the REST API in the current version QES Portal. It allows third parties to easily integrate QES Portal into their information systems and applications. We will invite selected registered users, after a mutual agreement, to a closed test of not only this, but also other future additions. So do not hesitate and register as soon as possible!

QES Portal

We are changing portal name and introducing several technical changes

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This July marks the 5th anniversary of the European eIDAS Regulation, which has brought several significant changes to the field of electronic signatures. Many organizations were not prepared to work with the new eIDAS signature formats at first, but the situation has gradually improved over the time and only a few use the legacy ZEP formats nowadays. We therefore decided to simplify our portal by removing the option to manually switch between SK ZEP and eIDAS QES modes. From now on, the portal selects the operating mode automatically depending on the type of file being processed - it uses the legacy SK ZEP mode only for processing of the legacy ZEP formats and interoperable eIDAS QES mode for everything else.

Now that legacy SK ZEP mode finally recedes into the background, it is a right time to change the name of the portal. Original portal name ZEP.DISIG.SK could have given users the false impression that the portal supports only legacy ZEP signatures. However, the opposite is true, and Qualified Electronic Signature is what most users have been creating on the portal for a quite some time. Qualified electronic signatures can be validated in all EU member states and that's why we are making the portal available under the new name QES Portal and at new addresses - for users from Slovakia at QESPortal.sk and for users from the rest of EU member states at QESPortal.eu.

But we are not changing only the name of the portal. We are also changing the communication method between the portal and Web Signer 2.0 application, for which it is no longer necessary to install any extension into the web browser. Most modern browsers can communicate with Web Signer 2.0 directly through its WebSocket interface and the new QES Portal takes full advantage of this feature. Therefore, starting from today, upgrade to new Web Signer 2.0 via our installation wizard is mandatory for all QES Portal users.

Web Signer 2.0

Web Signer 2.0

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The last update of ZEP.DISIG.SK portal was targeted primarily on users of mobile devices, but we are not forgetting about the users of Windows, Linux and macOS desktop operating systems. We are releasing the new version of signing application - Web Signer 2.0 - for them today.

Our main goal during the redesign of the graphical user interface was to make it more pleasant and to unify its look across all supported operating systems. We also made the signing button easier to find and we simplified the selection of signing certificate.

This update also includes several technological changes that may not be visible at first glance. For example we have used Qt5 application platform that does not need to be installed as previously used .NET or JAVA platforms did. Web Signer application also provides new WebSocket interface that will replace browser extensions over the time and will make the installation process much easier. Thanks to these and also other modifications, we will be able to introduce multiple interesting features, such as batch signing, in the future.

Upgrade to new Web Signer 2.0 is currently optional for existing users and it can be performed by manually downloading and running installation packages. All new users will get the new version by following the steps of our installation wizard.

Mobile signing - Mobile eID at your fingertips

Mobile signing - Mobile eID at your fingertips

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We have taken yet another step towards the mobile eID. For all current and future users of our products, we have introduced a solution for mobile device signing in accordance with the eIDAS regulation.

All you need to create an advanced electronic signature is a free Disig Web Signer Mobile application and a qualified certificate stored in your mobile device. If you are a holder of Slovak eID card, we will let you obtain this certificate from the comfort of your home.

Documents signed with our mobile signing solution are easily verifiable throughout the EU, mainly due to the fact that you are signing with a qualified certificate issued by qualified trust service provider. Even popular Adobe Acrobat Reader application verifies these signatures and "marks them green" without any additional configuration.

Please be careful when communicating with government organizations in Slovakia. At present, they only accept qualified signatures created with qualified devices (e.g. smart cards) which mobile devices are not. However our mobile signing solution is fully usable in business environment.

What you need to do to start signing with your mobile phone?

  1. Own Slovak eID card with a qualified certificate for signing, which can be obtained remotely.
  2. Own a mobile device and install Disig Web Signer Mobile application, which is available for free in Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
  3. Enroll for the issuance of a qualified certificate to a mobile device on ZEP.DISIG.SK portal. Please note that this feature is currently available in Slovak language only.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information. We will gladly explain in detail how our solution works and how it can be integrated in almost any process.

Change of the default portal operation mode

Change of the default portal operation mode

Published:

In order to maintain backwards compatibility with some older public administration systems, up until now ZEP.DISIG.SK service was by default operating in SK ZEP mode. In this mode the portal creates and validates signatures in accordance with the old Slovak Law on electronic signature and works with formats like ZEP, ZEPX or XZEP. However the majority of public administration systems was updated and is currently able to accept more recent signature formats, so we are changing the default operation mode of ZEP.DISIG.SK service to eIDAS QES mode. In this mode the portal creates and validates signatures in accordance with eIDAS Regulation and works with formats like ASiC-E or ASiC-S. The desired operation mode of the service can still be selected on the homepage, where the appropriate mode gets automatically preselected depending on the format of processed document.

Please see the Legislation section for more information on the legislative differences between the individual signature types. Technical differences between the old ZEP signatures and new QES signatures can be found in the About section.

End of support for multi-page GIF and TIF images

End of support for multi-page GIF and TIF images

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Up until now ZEP.DISIG.SK service has supported signing of multi-page image formats such as GIF and TIF. However, according to regulation of Ministry of Finance of Slovak Republic No. 55/2014 Coll. of 4 March 2014 the only image format allowed in communication with the government institutions of Slovak Republic is PNG image format. Since some electronic registries has recently started to strictly enforce this regulation on documents they are receiving, we have decided to adapt to this new behavior and automatically convert all image files processed by ZEP.DISIG.SK service to PNG format. This format, however, stores only 1 image (page), making it impossible to automatically convert multi-page GIF and TIF formats. Therefore, multi-page TIF and GIF image formats are no longer supported by the service and every attempt to sign them will end with an error. For scanned documents, we recommend using a different format, such as PDF.

Full support for European signatures

Full support for European signatures

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eIDAS regulation that sets the legislative and technical rules for the creation and validation of electronic signatures is legally binding in all member states of European Union as of July 1, 2016. New version of ZEP.DISIG.SK service introduces support for creation and validation of European signatures but also keeps support for older Slovak signatures for backwards compatibility. The desired operation mode of the service can be selected on the homepage by moving the switch between SK ZEP and eIDAS QES options.

Please see the Legislation section for more information on the legislative differences between the individual signature types. Technical differences between the old ZEP signatures and new QES signatures can be found in the About section.