Virtual post office
As a BundOnline 2005 basic component “ data security ”, the virtual post office ( VPS ) provides centralized bundled cryptographic services within an authority .
An example of a VPS is the " electronic court and administrative mailbox" (EGVP).
Areas of application:
- Web-based (client-server) communication
- Email communication
- Connection to specialist procedures
The virtual post office means the use of a central system that
- can encrypt outgoing messages
- can sign outgoing messages
- incoming encrypted messages decrypted
- Checks the signature of incoming messages.
Messages can be transmitted as e-mail, OSCI messages or via http upload. Virtual post offices are becoming more and more popular after the use of encryption and signatures at the workplace due to the complexity for users and the effort / cost intensity for companies.
As part of the BundOnline2005 project, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) decided to use a virtual post office at the end of October 2003. This offers components for central services, OSCI components (both based on the Governikus product ) and mail components (JULIA MailOffice).
The state commissioner for data protection of Lower Saxony, in cooperation with the central municipal associations in his state and the BSI, has drawn up a handout called "The virtual post office in a data protection-compliant manner". In this handout, data protection and technical and organizational requirements, security aspects to be observed and the architecture of the VPS as a basic component of e-government are compiled in a practical form.
There are different interpretations of the term virtual post office.