(back to 2006 C.I.P.A. Winners)
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Session Encryption with Automated Login (SEAL) in support of Census 2006
Canadians Complete 2006 Online Census With Confidence, Thanks to an Easy, Reliable Authentication Service
Challenge
Public Works and Government Services Canada and Statistics Canada embarked on a joint initiative in 2003 to provide Canadians with a viable online option to the paper 2006 census form. Statistics Canada wanted to enable citizens to fill out surveys securely and conveniently online. To do so, the online response system for Census 2006 had to:
- Maintain the privacy of information collected in the online form;
- Present a single-step access, providing a simple identification procedure to make the online option attractive;
- Be convenient and easy to use without any requirement to download and install an application;
- Be capable of securely handling large volumes of transactions, up to 15 000 concurrent users.
Solution
Statistics Canada and Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) created the online option in a joint initiative that covered three and a half years, involving the work of more than 100 people from both the public and private-sectors.
PWGSC developed a new authentication service known as Secure Encryption with Automated Login (SEAL) to ensure the security and privacy of online responses. The service provides bi-directional encryption capability for Statistics Canada's Census 2006 online application, making use of public key infrastructure (PKI).
Development of SEAL required close collaboration with private sector consortium partners, Team Bell Canada Enterprises for SEAL and Lockheed Martin/IBM for the census application.
The solution incorporated the need to provide security and privacy while implementing a simple and easy-to-use access method. Use of PKI assured the public that their personal data was secure at all times.
Results
Canadians were able to confidently complete their 2006 census survey online because of a high level of security achieved through SEAL. There was no onerous pre-registration process involved. Citizens could complete a short-form census questionnaire in 15 minutes online, with no permanent downloads or data left behind on the computer.
Statistics Canada received more than 2.1 million surveys completed online, or 21 per cent of the total, exceeding its target. Those results came in faster than results from paper submissions.
In the longer-term, the unique use of PKI to provide a simple yet secure solution will benefit the Canadian public through the use of this type of security in many other applications that require a high level of encryption. The SEAL technology could be used for future elections or surveys including the next census in 2011.
Innovative Use of Technology
Each citizen received a household-specific 15-digit access code along with the Web-site address, www.census2006.ca, printed on their census questionnaire.
Before entering the access code, the citizen clicked on a start button. The SEAL system validated that minimum technical requirements were met and downloaded a small Java applet along with Statistics Canada's PKI public certificate to the computer.
The 15-digit access code was encrypted and sent to Statistics Canada's back-end facilities for decryption and validation. If valid, the SEAL system issued an anonymous and reusable user identification and password to the citizen's browser.
In the background, without any citizen involvement, the anonymous PKI profile initiated the encryption set-up. Once logged into the profile, the citizen would then see the first page of the census questionnaire.
The citizen then proceeded through the online survey. Once the client clicked "Submit" the anonymous PKI profile was released by the SEAL system for reuse by another citizen.
Citizens were even able to continue a suspended session on a different machine from the original. The partially completed forms were saved on the application server rather than the workstation. No citizen-specific data were ever maintained between uses of the profile.
A 2006 CIPA Winner!
For its exceptional application of information technology to transform its processes and bring benefits to its stakeholders, Public Works and Government Services Canada has been awarded a 2006 CIPA Silver Award of Excellence in the Innovation, Not For Profit category.
(back to top)
