There are currently various online election products on the market. If an election or a vote is to be conducted online, the question for the election administration is which product is the right one. Online elections must be protected in particular by IT security measures. Every provider or service provider of online elections naturally states that their own product is secure.

An IT security certification can give process owners the assurance that a certain set of security objectives is covered. Among other things, the certification provides information on whether cryptographic procedures are used according to the current state of the art in order to provide an authentic election result and at the same time maintain the secrecy of the ballot. Another example is the level of trust at which voters can register and cast their vote in the online election. If a high level of trust is required, the product must support the use of the online ID card function of the ID card or another equivalent means of identification at the same level.

The BSI will publish a new Common Criteria protection profile for online voting products by Q1 2023, so certified products are expected to be available thereafter in 2023.