“Diya” has become a part of the life of Ukrainians for more than four years. Digitalization makes life much easier and few deny it. However, there are a number of dangers associated with auto communication.
“I dream of a country in a smartphone,” said Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, speaking to the IT community a few days after his inauguration. The ability to receive maximum government services online was one of his election initiatives. The creation of a digital state was entrusted to a separate department - the Ministry of Digital Transformation, which arose on the basis of the State Agency for Electronic Governance of Ukraine. It was headed by freelance adviser to the head of state Mikhail Fedorov.
The first thing that Vladimir Zelensky’s team promised to launch was the “EMalatko” project, announced back in February 2019 by Vladimir Groysman. The service is designed to simplify obtaining a child’s birth certificate, tax number, birth assistance, etc. One click instead of dozens of visits to government agencies - this logic underlies the “Diya” mobile application, the presentation of which took place on February 6, 2020.
Now Ukrainians have the opportunity to store the necessary documents in electronic form in Diya. A dozen services are available in the application, and more than 70 on the Diya portal. Among the most popular services in the application are issuing an IDP certificate, purchasing military bonds, reporting damaged property, replacing a driver’s license, and car sharing. “Diya” also makes life easier for businesses when registering sole proprietorships and LLCs, processing compensation for the employment of IDPs, obtaining a license, certificate, and recently, booking those liable for military service.
“The first advantage of Dii is the lack of need to carry paper documents with you every day, since they are all on your phone. The second is the ability to receive a variety of certificates in electronic form. This saves time, paper and state funds, and also makes bureaucratization impossible,” Christina Vengrinyak, head of the IT association Software Ukraine, tells Apostrophe.
Another strong function of “Diya” is the ability to generate an electronic digital signature.
“Diya.Signature” has taken a huge step towards the digitalization of electronic document management processes in Ukraine,” she continues. – After all, thanks to “Dіi”, any individual can generate a qualified electronic signature online directly in the application; there is no need to travel anywhere to receive it. This made it possible for ordinary citizens and individual entrepreneurs to quickly sign documents electronically... This action somewhat simplified the life of Ukrainians in terms of interaction with the state.
There are probably more opponents of digitalization among Ukrainians. However, there is something to criticize “Diya” for.
Bugs in Dii: bad experiences of citizens
“I simply have no words about the situation with purchasing tickets for international trains! To buy a ticket, you need “Diya. Signature”, and to get it you need to change your passport! This is exactly the answer I received from Dii technical support... To read what the identification program asks, I need glasses - but their program does not recognize me! And for some reason long hair that doesn’t cover the face is also a hindrance!…
I’m just wondering – why improvement at the expense of citizens? Not an improvement in the facial recognition program, but simply – go get a new passport,” Elena Redka shared her experience and chests of correspondence with technical support
Under the message, Svetlana Krisha left a comment: “This is really a problem. I also cannot pass facial identification in Dii, although I did not change my hairstyle.”
Trouble can happen when re-registering a car. On social networks they say that they did this after 25 unsuccessful attempts: “As it turned out, the seller had a complete namesake (!), who had problems with real estate. We found out this directly by visiting the service center already with a power of attorney for the car in hand (which was handed over to us from Poland, for a minute). And only after that the process started.”
“When I divorced my husband, there were courts for alimony, etc., I did not receive messages about the appointment of court hearings. Although when I rummaged around, I found that they were assigned. And the same with court decisions - the decision was made, but it was not immediately highlighted in “Diia,” Marina Gorbatskaya shared with “Apostrophe”.
Another interlocutor of the publication, Evgeniya Borgun, spoke about unsuccessful attempts to open a sole proprietorship on the Diya portal. “The process was complicated. It took a long time to load the list of streets when filling out the registration location, when a message came out that the service was not responding. That is, the process of registering a sole proprietor definitely takes more than 10 minutes, as advertised. However, the most annoying thing was at the end - at the stage of signing the application. It was not possible to do this either through “Diya. Signature”, nor through the Privatbank CEP. I checked the EPC – it’s valid, but still won’t sign.”
Apostrophe asked the Ministry of Digital Development what the difficulties might be associated with opening a sole proprietorship through “Diya”. In response to the request, the department provided a number of quotes from the regulations on the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services (Diya). Among other things, it was noted that “relations arising in the field of state registration... of individual entrepreneurs are regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On State Registration of Legal Entities...”. In accordance with clause 16, part 1, article 1, the technical administrator of the Unified State Register has been determined by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine to be a state unitary enterprise... carrying out activities to create, refine and maintain the software of the Unified State Register, the portal of electronic services and is responsible for their technical and technological support... provides, blocks and revokes access to the Unified State Register...” It was also said that “the use of the services of the Diya portal is voluntary and optional” and was sent to the support service.
Fraud and Voter Tracking
Unfortunately, scammers have already learned how to fake “Diya”. “Criminals use brand elements of the Diya application to create phishing sites. Scammers send links to relevant resources to citizens and convince them to enter confidential payment data (bank card number, expiration date and cvv code) and provide one-time authorization passwords to online banking. In this way, scammers steal other people’s savings,” the National Police noted to “Apostrophe.”
They also talked about the facts of scammers gaining access to the victim’s real application and applying a digital signature in order to issue an online loan on behalf of the victim to accounts controlled by the attackers. In addition, law enforcement officers recorded cases of the use of fake “Diya” applications when receiving shipments at the branches of carrier companies.
The “Diya” software was developed by a company that may have Belarusian roots, USPP vice-president and cybersecurity specialist Ivan Petukhov tells Apostrophe. “A detailed check is needed: if the software product in which our personal data is processed has or had any connection with the aggressor country, then appropriate measures must be taken,” he warned.
Petukhov also recalled that in 2022, certain people’s deputies sent a letter to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine about the possible leak of data to Dii, which was also reported by the American media, which allegedly had such information.
“The Ministry of Digital Development states that data is not stored in Dii. However, requests and responses from registries, information from which is obtained through Dii, as well as Dii user IDs must be temporarily stored somewhere. Rumors about data leaks from Dii have repeatedly appeared in the media. The Ministry of Digital Development did not admit to this, so we can only guess where the truth is,” Krystyna Vengrinyak comments to Apostrophe.
In addition, you can follow Dii users. “Information about what a person did in Dii, the time when he entered there, from what place he entered, what documents he received or requested, when he signed documents using Dii. Signature, etc. are stored on the Diya side and can be accessed if necessary,” she emphasized.
The IT association Software Ukraine also drew attention to the possibility of using Dii for political purposes. “Information regarding Dii users can be very useful for use by political forces in the election process. The application allows you to conduct various studies of voters' opinions and marketing research. This is a unique platform with a selection of Ukrainian citizens who are verified and active,” noted Vengrinyak.
At the same time, the idea of holding elections in Dii, which is constantly discussed in society, does not stand up to criticism. “The console and database contain a human factor - a system administrator who can influence the election results,” explained cybersecurity specialist Ivan Petukhov.
