Representatives of public and private institutions and organizations are being schooled on Doc@uthANTIC, an advanced electronic signature scheme that secures the authenticity and integrity of official documents.
This is during the 4th edition of the seminar on securing administrative documents in the digital transformation era organised by the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ANTIC), 25-27 September 2024 in Mbankomo outskirts of Yaounde.
According to Technical Adviser N° 2 at ANTIC, Mebada Ekani Jean Pierre, who represented ANTIC’S Director General at the event, since digitalization has taken over paper work, unscrupulous people have infiltrated the cyber space with actions that challenge the security of electronic documents, digital contents, electronic transactions and digital messaging.
Falsification of Official Documents; a call for concern
The disturbing rate at which administrative documents, sometimes confidential are published or shared on the internet remains a worrisome matter to ANTIC as stated by the Technical Adviser in his opening discourse.
Some of the documents circulated online are fake with the intentions to misinform the public, discredit reputable structures , stir hatred and endanger national security by instilling fear.
The digital world has also facilitated the process of online falsification of documents, for example 1312 fake diplomas were detected during the recruitment process of Cadet Gendarmes and Soldiers for the 2024 fiscal year in Cameroon.
These and many other cases ruin the credibility of some of these structures due to the porous nature of their websites or their data systems , making the three day workshop which falls in line with ANTIC’s primary objective of securing the cyber space of Cameroon inevitable.
The upsurge in the circulation of fake documents be it on social media platforms like WhatsApp Groups, Facebook pages and other platforms can not be overemphasized . These unfortunate cases have led to significant financial loses, reputational damage and sometimes jeopardizing the security and safety of the state.
Securing the Production Chain of Official Documents: What ANTIC Has Done?
To solve this problem, ANTIC developed a signature scheme dubbed Doc@uthANTIC to secure official documents. The signature provides three key security dispositions; authentication, integrity of documents and non-repudiation of signatories .
The system has helped built trust and given assurances to online transactions and interactions while ensuring growth and development of the digital economy
ANTIC is also deploring services to secure documents by getting them digitally signed generating a QR code in the process which is inserted in the document in question.
Some key public and private structures are already working with ANTIC as they have integrated advanced electronic signature scheme into the production chain of their official documents and the security of their sensitive digital applications
Other themes to be invoked during the three day seminar according the program schedule will be;
# Law enforcement officers in the face of digital counterfeiting
# Legal provisions with regard to the falsification of official documents
# Protection scheme of the national civil Status Registry
# Securing travel ticket and conformity documents
The Technical Adviser No.2, of the Information and Communication Technologies structure, Mebada Ekani Jean Pierre Alain represented the Director General at opening ceremony at Mbankomo, outskirts of Yaounde this September 25 while the inaugural lecture was delivered by Prof Atsa Etoundi, Director of Information Systems at MINESUP
Benly Anchunda
