PMA Implements First Step toward Foundation of Public Key Infrastructure
Dr. Jihad Al Wazir, the Governor of the PMA, announced today that the PMA has executed the first step toward the establishment of the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). The step comes as part of the PMA efforts made to develop the digital environment of the Palestinian banking sector and augment security of the financial electronic transactions which constitute a modern instrument opening new prospects for the Palestinian national economy and promoting its ability to communicate with the rest of the world.
Dr. Al Wazir explained that this development has culminated in issuing the public keys and certificates responsible for the security and independence of the PKI system, assuring all electronic transactions that created and authenticated using these keys. Transparency and high reliability will be ensured by the creation of unique digital user identities provided to all banking infrastructure users. The public keys and certificates were issued in a ceremony held at the PMA headquarters, during which highly controlled and secure technical procedures were performed. System users will be able to electronically communicate using their encrypted identity credentials, which will assure the feature of fixed electronic signature, pursuant to the National Payments Law of 2012.
The technical procedures, in line with international best practices and standards, were performed by an expert from OpenTrust, an international leading provider of digital trust services headquartered in France, under the supervision of Dr. Shehadeh Hussein, Deputy Governor of the PMA. Witnessing the launch were attendees from within and outside of the PMA, including the representative of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the representative of the Association of Banks in Palestine (ABP), PricewaterhouseCoopers independent auditor and representatives from Cystack Palestine. In order to affirm the soundness and accuracy of the procedures and other technical aspects of the operational implementation, witnesses viewed and followed up the performance of the entire set of procedures which qualify the PMA for obtaining the ISO 21188 standards for Public key infrastructure for financial services.
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