About Skilríki á síma

The Skilríki á síma can be used for authentication with various online services. The eID is developed by Auðkenni hf., which is owned by the Icelandic government.

The Skilríki á síma relies on SIM cards designed for electronic identification technology and issued by the following mobile service providers in Iceland: Nova, Síminn, Vodafone, Hringdu and Hringidan. SIM cards hold e-certificates, which serve as authentication keys to uniquely identify users.

Users can activate Skilríki á síma at their bank or at the branch offices of the mobile service providers. When registering new users, banks and mobile service providers check the identity of their customers before activating the eID.

To use Skilríki á síma, users need to have a mobile phone and a special SIM card issued by mobile service providers in Iceland. When authenticating using Skilríki á síma, users receive an SMS with a prompt to validate the authentication request using a personal PIN code.

Level of assurance

The eIDAS Regulation establishes three assurance levels for electronic identification:

Low
Substantial
High

High is the highest level of assurance (LoA). Skilríki á síma supports LoA4, which is equivalent to the High LoA.

Note that the LoA offered by Skilríki á síma is not notified by eIDAS. For more information about the level of assurance of Auðkenni, please contact Auðkenni.

Use case examples

Skilríki á síma can be used for:

Digital onboarding: To be able to apply for a loan, the bank may require a user to register and become a customer of this bank. Skilríki á síma can be used as a stand alone method or in combination with other services provided by Signicat to verify an identity (see for example ID Document and Biometric verification).
Authentication: When the user has completed the digital onboarding process, Skilríki á síma can be used to log into their account. The authentication will result in a type of response that depends on the type of authentication protocol used.

Screen example

When users want to identify themselves using the Skilríki á síma, the following steps occur:

On your app or website, the user selects a button to start authenticating.
In the login window, the user enters their mobile phone number and selects Log in (Innskrá in Icelandic).
On the mobile phone, the user receives a login SMS message with a verification code and checks that the code is the same as in the Skilríki á síma login window. If true, the user confirms by selecting OK or Accept.
On the mobile phone, the user enters their personal PIN code (PIN1 for authentication or PIN2 for signing) and selects OK or Send.
Finally, the user has access to your online service.