Virtual Post Office in Practice

Abstract

The Virtual Post Office (VPS)² is the core element of the infrastructure component for data security of the reference architecture for IT systems of federal authorities. The VPS supports applications with cryptographic as well as communication services. Thus it is the basis for information processing without cross-media transfer as well as for secure and legally compliant communication. At the Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund (DRV Bund) the VPS is part of a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) based infrastructure. It was integrated into the business processes and is operated under heavy load and real conditions. Within the German Pension Insurance the DRV Bund has taken the responsibility for the VPS and is hosting a service for the verification of certificates for all federal authorities. The DRV Bund is a strategic partner of the Federal Office for Information Security and is member of the advisory board for the VPS client for citizens. This article describes the operation concepts and scenarios with regard to the VPS as well as the standards based infrastructure of the DRV Bund.

1

“Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund” is translated into “German Federal Pension Insurance”. In this paper we will keep the German term and use the abbreviation DRV Bund.

2

“Virtual Post Office” is the translation of the German term “Virtuelle Poststelle”. In the following the abbreviation VPS will be used. Another translation is “Virtual Mail Room”.