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privote - online voting system

Case study

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Introduction

Logo of privoteprivote is the creator of a comprehensive and universal online voting system. This solution is very simple and intuitive to use – there is no need to use special voting devices, and the meetings resemble those held in the traditional way. It is enough to have access to the Internet from a computer (with a camera and a microphone), a tablet or a smartphone.

It is possible to conduct various types of voting on resolutions, budgets, reports, etc. – open or secret, ordinary or weighted (proportionally according to the shares held by the voter), casting privileged votes, voting by proxy, excluding from voting and checking the quorum. Additional services are also available, such as running a meeting by a notary public, obtaining a qualified digital signature of a notary public on the voting report or providing live translation.

The system created by privote guarantees the safety of the voting process thanks to the implemented mechanisms such as verification of voters, encryption, digital signing of documents, calculation of checksums, creation of reports and event logs, and recording of meetings.

Basic information

Client
  • The creator of the world’s first system combining videoconferencing with remote online voting in a single interface
  • The entity operates as the so-called trusted third party and recipient of votes that have legal validity throughout the EU (compliant with eIDAS and GDPR requirements
Concept

Providing hardware infrastructure and reliable connectivity for an integrated system of videoconferencing and remote and hybrid voting.

IT infrastructure and services
  • Dedicated servers hosted in a Tier III+ class data center
  • Telecommunications links
  • Backup as a Service – automated backup
Added values
  • Technical and service support 24/7
  • Flexibility if the IT environment needs expanding
  • Optimization of Client’s IT costs (subscription model)
  • Infrastructure anti-DDoS protection
Business benefits for the Client
  • Savings – no need to invest in your own data center and incur large expenses for its maintenance and protection.
  • Focus on business – the ability to fully focus on the ongoing operation and further development of the system thanks to entrusting the provider with responsibility for maintaining the ICT infrastructure.
  • Stable operation – providing the service with efficiency and availability, thanks to which online discussion and voting takes place in a natural way, just like at traditional meetings.
  • Enhancing credibility – relying on the ICT infrastructure and services of a reputable provider ensures data security and facilitates the acquisition of partners and customers.
  • Free development – the possibility of a quick expansion of the IT environment in the future, necessary in the event of expanding the range of functions offered by the system and a significant increase in the number of customers.

Outset

privote is a young company, but founded by experienced managers associated with the IT market for several decades. It was created to start providing remote voting services under this brand in a very simple and intuitive, but safe way – without the need to install any software, using a device with Internet access, equipped with a web browser, a camera and a microphone.

Most of the systems available on the market so far are modifications of the software for conducting online surveys or videoconferencing tools. The second group of existing solutions are systems that provide forms for voting, but without the possibility of live communication (voice and image). These systems do not, however, guarantee security and the possibility of free discussion on the voted resolutions, which is a legal requirement and is expected by management boards of commercial companies.

Therefore, there was a need to create a safe videoconferencing solution from scratch, expanded with a multi-functional and easy to configure module enabling the preparation and management of the meeting. The basic functions of the module include inviting users and assigning them permissions (voter or observer), verification of participants during logging in, possible acceptance of the regulations and policies for the processing of personal data, conducting discussions and voting, and then providing a report with their results.

Grzegorz Szyszka, president of the board, privote

The privote service was created in response to customer demand and the market niche indicated by them. They wanted to be able to safely vote online, because due to the ongoing pandemic, they could not get to the place where the meeting was held. But we see great potential for this service also after the pandemic is over. It contributed to the dissemination of remote cooperation and popularization of new trends, including the elimination of costly travel in a situation where the matter can be settled via the Internet. On the other hand, thanks to the new anti-covid act, remote voting in companies has been legally sanctioned, without the need to amend the articles of association.

Needs

The creation of this type of unique solution required the integration of three areas. The first is to create the software with which the voting service will be provided – this was what privote developers did. The second area is the videoconference module – ready-made open source software was helpful here, which required slight modifications and integration with voting software, primarily in the area of security, identification of meeting participants and presentation of voting results.

The third area is business continuity, i.e. ensuring high availability of the service. The voting participants in the meetings are usually high-level people with a limited amount of time, so there could be no unplanned breaks in the meeting, the need to repeat the entire process or no guarantee that their vote was taken into account. Therefore, to operate the voting system, it was necessary to acquire technical infrastructure at the highest possible level.

Solution

Conducting audio and video streaming, combined with the need to ensure the connection of meeting participants with voting software, automatically translated into the requirement to provide the most efficient infrastructure possible. privote IT specialists conducted tests of their solution on virtual machines, but these failed due to the lack of guaranteed performance. It was necessary to use physical servers connected to a reliable internet infrastructure.

In addition to this, there is the issue of scalability. privote is constantly acquiring new customers and is also planning international expansion. This translates into the inability to precisely determine the increase in demand for equipment supporting the entire solution. Another aspect is physical security (protection against fire, flooding, collapse of a building) and digital security (protection against attacks, data loss, hardware failure).

Bearing these requirements in mind, privote management board decided to locate all mechanisms enabling the voting service to be provided on dedicated servers maintained in a professional and comprehensively connected Atman Data Center in Warsaw.

In addition, the data was secured using Atman Backup – a service of cyclical and automated creation of encrypted backups on the BaaS platform, which is located in a different data center than the infrastructure supporting the privote system.

Grzegorz Szyszka, president of the board, privote

Several aspects determined our choice of Atman.  One of the basic factors was the fact that the server rooms used by our system are connected directly to the main nodes of the Atman internet network, which guarantees minimizing delays in audio and video data transmission. We also appreciate the high level of highly committed support. We have at our disposal not only an assistant of sales, but also there have never been problems with access to a technical specialist in a given field. This is a unique approach because not everyone can talk to the administrator responsible for a given infrastructure. Meanwhile, our programmers and administrators, together with Atman’s specialists, have already discussed several times how to prepare for development, plan the use of load balancing, implement new servers, etc. Thus, we received a lot of support and a detailed technical recommendation for further actions.

Benefits

  • High availability of ICT services
  • Low entry threshold: OPEX instead of CAPEX
  • High standard of infrastructure and data center service, including 24/7 technical support
  • Security, stability and efficiency of the environment in which the privote system operates
  • Maintenance-free backup that protects against data loss
  • Guarantee of the provider’s immediate response to incidents or failures in hardware and telecommunications
  • Guarantee of rapid expansion of the environment, if necessary (easy scalability)
  • Flexible approach and the possibility of consulting with the provider’s IT specialists
  • Possibility to focus on the operational and development activities of the company
  • Additional enhancement of credibility thanks to the cooperation with a reputable technological partner

Summary

The implementation of privote software in a professional data center turned out to be the best choice. Its users have not experienced a single failure that would hinder the course of the meeting or voting. They have gained access to a multifunctional platform that is constantly being developed by its creators. Currently, work is underway to enable the meetings to be organized independently by law firms cooperating with privote. A module of verification of meeting participants is also being implemented, based on the identification of their faces and automatic reading of data from the ID card presented to the camera.

As privote representatives emphasize, users are very positive about the fact that the infrastructure responsible for providing the voting service is located at a professional provider with many years of experience in ensuring the highest level of security. Thanks to this cooperation, the guarantee of data confidentiality has been confirmed by numerous certificates issued by independent entities.

About the Client

privote – an internet remote and hybrid voting service was created to enable companies and institutions to increase the efficiency of their activities, accelerate decision-making, and save time and costs related to the reduction of the number of business trips. It was created by a group of experienced managers and engineers – enthusiasts and creators of new technologies. Their wealth of experience in various projects and IT services for companies, as well as a proven staff of employees and partners allow them to successfully implement large and complex international projects.

We can also talk about such success in the case of the privote service. Its provider guarantees legal validity – certifies the entire voting process, because it acts as the so-called trusted third party, i.e. the recipient of votes. The digital certification tools used have the same validity as a traditional signature in the European Union. The integrity of the entire voting process and its validity is confirmed by the most modern certification solutions, compliant with the European eIDAS requirements, legally valid throughout the EU.

A globally unique element of the service is also the original (undergoing the patent procedure) system for verifying the secret voice by voters without violating the secrecy of the vote itself (Smart Vote ID – SVID). Under this mechanism, secret voters are assigned a unique ID string known only to them and generated for each vote. In the final voting report, instead of names, there are ID strings with the votes cast. For the voter who knows their ID for a given vote, this gives the opportunity to verify the correctness of the qualification of their vote.