The year 2024 will go down in history as the breakthrough year for mobile certificates.
The mobile certificate is a digital identification tool that can be connected to the phone’s SIM card, and its popularity is growing rapidly. Adobe Stock / AOP
Elisa’s information security director Teemu Mäkelä states in the company’s press release that the number of mobile certificate users has increased by 60 percent among Elisa’s customers in 2024.
According to Mäkelä, the popularity of the mobile certificate has been increased during the year by the extensive coverage of phishing scams, the recommendations of the authorities and the service denial attacks in October–November.
– The explosive popularity of the mobile certificate is the information security phenomenon of 2024 and the biggest change in the information security attitudes of Finns in decades. The increase in awareness is a positive thing in terms of security of supply for society as a whole, says Mäkelä in the press release.
In addition to Elisa, the mobile certificate is offered by DNA and Telia, of which it is free for customers of the latter. Each operator prices their services independently, and currently Elisa and DNA charge a couple of euros per month for a mobile certificate.
Among DNA’s customers, the use of mobile certificates has increased by almost 50 percent this year.
What mobile certificate?
The mobile certificate is a secure tool for strong identification, and its implementation is recommended by both banks and authorities. In addition, due to disruptions, it would be good if everyone had two methods of identification at their disposal.
The mobile certificate is activated on the SIM card. The user’s identity is recognized upon activation with strong electronic identification, i.e. with online banking credentials or an electronic identity card. The functions of the mobile certificate take place in the security module of the SIM card, whose data cannot be captured, according to Telia, even if a criminal gets hold of the card.
According to the Digital and Population Information Agency, more than 11 percent of all authentications to public online services are currently performed with a mobile certificate. It works in practically all public services that require logging in.
DNA emphasized in November that using a mobile certificate prevents fraudsters from accessing bank information, and fraudsters cannot empty the account, as it cannot be used to log into banking services.
– The safest thing would be to identify yourself with a mobile certificate for all other services and use your bank credentials only for your own online banking transactions, stated the person responsible for the company’s value-added services business in Telia’s press release Vesa Reijonen.