Block G Report: "BC Services Card: Privacy, Architecture, and Risks"

Christopher Parsons and Adam Molnar

Published: April 2013

Keywords: BCCLA, privacy, security, BC Services Card, Technology and Capacity Development

Abstract:

This report was written in 2012-13 for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.

In it, we focus on the BC Services Card, which is part of the BC government's egovernment initiatives. The Services Card is a smartcard enabled identity document that is designed to interoperate across BC government services, with the intent of providing superior access to services than existing delivery mechanisms.

The goal of this report is to contextualize the politics and technology behind the new BC Services Card and, in the process, understand prospective security-and privacy-related issues that are linked with the initiative. A core aspect of our report consists of a technical survey of the Services Card and its associated infrastructure.

As part of our survey we evaluate possible vulnerabilities that could be exploited by a hostile third-party intent on undermining, disrupting, or otherwise compromising Services Cards or the trust BC residents are expected to place in them as technically sophisticated and reliable identity tokens.

Disciplines: Governance, Science and Technology, Security and Conflict

Publication: Services-Card-Report--1-6-Final.pdf