GReID: Bringing the First Greek eID Scheme to Reality

Project Summary

SpearIT has served as lead technical and compliance architect for GReID, the first Greek national electronic identification (eID) scheme, delivering the technical foundation of the eID means, the end-to-end authentication architecture, the identity proofing mechanism, the overarching governance framework, and the technical and legal evidence base supporting the scheme's progression through the eIDAS notification process.

GReID is Greece's mobile-native, hardware-bound national eID, delivered through the gov.gr Wallet application and designed to operate at Levels of Assurance Substantial and High under the eIDAS Regulation (EU).

Our Contribution

SpearIT was engaged by the Ministry of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence to architect a national eID scheme from the ground up, requiring institutional and technical design, functional, security and interoperability testing, as well as undergoing peer review and achieving EU-wide notification within 2026, in a highly fragmented and complex national landscape with multiple stakeholders.

The engagement covered several parallel workstreams:

• Technical architecture: specifying the nature and characteristics of the different flavours of eID means across all Levels of Assurance (LoA), the authentication mechanism, the identity proofing process, the eID issuance and lifecycle management processes, the authentication-authorization mechanism, cross-border technical interoperability, as well as the security architecture of all components involved.
• Governance architecture: structuring the governance layer and defining the responsibilities of each scheme stakeholder, formulating the relevant policies which govern the scheme's statutory establishment, supervision, operation, as well as detailed policies regarding enrolment, identity proofing, and overall lifecycle, as well as drafting the national legal framework for the eID.
• Technical coordination: acting as owner's engineer, coordinating and validating implementation across a consortium of numerous technology vendors and multiple ministerial departments, to ensure timely and valid delivery.
• EU institutional coordination: managing the notification process end-to-end, from producing the relevant dossier and coordinating the peer review process to representing Greece to the European Digital Identity Cooperation Group and producing the evidence requested by the peer reviewers.

About GReID

GReID supports all three Levels of Assurance (LoA) foreseen by the eIDAS Regulation, namely LoA Low, Substantial, and High. All eID means are issued by the Hellenic Public Administration Root Certification Authority (HPARCA/APED).

With regard to the characteristics of the eID means:

• Under LoA Low, the eID means consist of a username and a strong password, without any further MFA mechanism.
• Under LoA Substantial, the eID means is essentially passwordless, consisting of a cryptographic proof generated solely by the holder's paired smartphone device running GOV.GR Wallet, employing either local biometric or PIN authentication, configured interchangeably.
• Under LoA High, the eID means extend those of LoA Substantial by employing a remote Qualified Signature Creation Device (QSCD) and an additional, separate PIN.

GReID is notified under LoA Substantial and High, while LoA Low is only operated at the national level.

Relying parties are required to classify their provided services across the 3 LoAs, while citizens can obtain only one instance of an eID in total, under one of the 3 available LoAs. The core principle is that a higher LoA satisfies any lower LoA.

All Greek citizens aged 12 years or older who hold a valid Greek ID card or Greek passport and Personal Number can apply for GReID. The new, NFC-based Greek ID card and Greek passport are leveraged for the identity proofing process required in order to issue GReID.

Depending on the chosen LoA, identity proofing can be performed completely remotely and automatically or through physical presence, by booking an appointment at one of the 1000+ Citizen Service Centers (CSC/KEP) across the Greek territory.

The eID means employ asymmetric, hardware-backed cryptography and require a modern smartphone with the GOV.GR Wallet app installed.

The result is a modern, non-shareable credential enabling secure authentication to online services and especially under LoA High, enables obtaining a qualified electronic signature (QES) certificate for legally binding signatures for electronic document signing.

Project Outcome

GReID is intended to replace the legacy, knowledge-based TAXISnet credentials with a cryptographic, multifactor authentication-protected credential bound to the citizen's smartphone. This gives Greek citizens a significantly more secure and modern method to access public online services.

Additionally, GReID allows Greek citizens to access public services in every other Member State (e.g. enrolling at a foreign university, registering a residence, filing with a foreign tax authority) using their Greek national eID, with no foreign registration step and no parallel credential. Conversely, the reverse also applies, allowing citizens of other Member States to access Greek public services using their own national eID means, recognised in Greece on the strength of their home country's notification.

An eID scheme notified at LoA Substantial or High is one of the few pieces of public digital infrastructure that other Member States are legally obliged to recognise. It is also the foundation on which the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDIW) is built, providing the path to issuing the person identification data (PID) and onboarding the citizen to the EUDIW.

Moreover, the Greek eID in conjunction with the Once-Only Technical System (OOTS) and the Single Digital Gateway (SDG) Regulation, eliminates the need for physical paperwork and repetitive data submission for citizens across the EU, lowering friction in online administrative procedures.

For more information about GReID, visit: https://portal.greid.gov.gr/