Over the years, the public administration services have adopted various authentication systems for accessing online portals, so that they can handle some of the files directly from home, without having to go to the office of the municipality in each case. The most common authentication systems currently involve the use of the National Services Card (CNS), the Regional Services Card (CRS), the Electronic Identity Card (CIE) and the SPID, i.e. the Digital Identity.
If we do not know anything about these authentication systems and need to access some INPS, Revenue Agency or some municipality or region telematic portal, in this guide we will explain you what these authentication systems are and how to use them. smart card readers for CNS, CRS, CIE and SPID recognition .
The choice of the system obviously depends on the site or portal in which we access, even if the portals at national or regional level could easily support all three types of authentication.
1) National Service Card (CNS)
The National Service Card (also identified with the acronym CNS) is nothing more than the latest generation health card, that is, the one issued with the chip clearly visible on the front of the card.
This card, also called TS-CNS, allows you to access services that require the National Service Card for access, without having to type in your username and password each time.
For those who register with the Chamber of Commerce and have a VAT number, it is possible to obtain another type of CNS, technically identical to that reserved for private citizens but which can be used to manage the VAT number and other services reserved to the Matches VAT.
Inside the chip of both cards there is a personal certificate, which can be used as a faithful and secure authentication method (the institution will know without a shadow of a doubt that we want to access the requested service).
In order to use the health card as a CNS card, it is necessary to recover the PIN (8 digits) at the local ASL; a list of the ASLs used to activate the CNS is available for each region of Italy, just perform a Google search with the word "CNS ASL" followed by the region to which it belongs.
Once we reach the competent ASL office, we will recognize our identity by providing a valid identity card, health card and a valid email (even normal, not necessarily PEC).
At the end of the registration we will obtain a part of the PIN (the first 4 digits) directly from the counter; the remaining 4 digits of the PIN will be provided to us within a few minutes at the email address provided during registration.
After obtaining the PIN for the TS-CNS or the CNS of the Chamber of Commerce, we will have to buy a smart card reader for PC, such as the one available here -> Bit4id miniLector EVO Indoor USB 2.0 (€ 13).
This device is self-installing, we will not have to install any type of driver: connect it to a free USB port on our computer and wait for the correct installation of the driver.
To use the health card as CNS, we will also need to install a small software from the following site -> List of TS-CNS programs.
There are various programs available, for each type of operating system: to download the right one based on the health card in our possession, we check the identification code, present on the same card in the upper left corner.
Install this program, then insert the health card in the smart card reader: at the first start, we will be asked to enter the entire PIN for the correct activation of the card.
Once this is done, all we have to do is connect to the site where access via CNS is required and, as soon as it is requested, we insert the card into the smart card.
We insert the last digits of the PIN to confirm the authentication and wait for the comparison of the certificate: in a few seconds we will immediately have access to the digital services offered by the public administration body.
2) Regional Service Charter (CRS)
Some regions of Italy provide sites and services for the public administration reserved for their citizens, often completely different from the services of the other regions and the services available at the state level.
In this case, we will be able to access the regional sites using the Regional Services Card.
It is completely identical to the health card, to the point of being completely interchangeable ; the same health card can be used as a CRS at the services of your region, and the specific CRS can also be used as a CNS at a national level.
CRS activation must be carried out in the reserved offices of the region; for example in Lombardy it is possible to obtain all the information on this type of card on the dedicated website -> CRS / CNS Lombardia.
The operation is also identical to the TS-CNS: we must obtain a smart card reader, install the dedicated CRS software and, at the appropriate time, enter the PIN (supplied by the competent regional office) to activate the card.
To access the website of the regional public administration that supports CRS, just insert the card in the smart card reader and type a part of the PIN code to authenticate.
3) Electronic Identity Card (CIE)
The Electronic Identity Card is the new identity card on card issued by all municipalities in place of the paper one (now no longer available).
In addition to being modern and difficult to falsify, this card also contains an NFC (contactless) chip that can be used to access services that support access via CIE .
It can therefore replace the CNS and the CRS without problems : being new, however, not all the sites of the public administration have implemented access with it (it may take some time).
Currently it can be used to certify the SPID on some of the authorized providers (as we will see in the following chapter) and to access some regional portals.
This card also requires a PIN in order to authorize its use: it consists of 8 digits and is divided into two parts: the first part is provided when the card is adopted or renewed at the municipal registry office; the other part of the PIN will be sent together with the card by registered mail.
Once the PIN has been obtained, we can use the card by obtaining an NFC smart card reader, such as the one available here -> KKmoon NFC Card Reader ACR122U (€ 32).
We connect this reader to our PC, wait for the driver installation (it is self-installing, we won't have to do anything else) and install the specific interface program for the electronic identity card -> CIE software.
After installing the program, we access the public administration site that supports access via CIE and, at the appropriate time, place the card on the reader.
There will then be all the PIN numbers (at the first access, to activate the card), so that we can authorize the use of the certificate included in the Electronic Identity Card.
In subsequent uses of the electronic identity card we will only be asked for the last 4 digits of the PIN.
4) SPID
The SPID (or Public Digital Identity System) is a new generation authentication system that allows access to all online services offered by the public administration, both nationally and regionally.
It completely replaces the access via CNS and CRS, since the credentials used are certified, therefore in fact as effective as the authentication systems via smart card.
To obtain your SPID, we will have to contact one of the providers authorized by the Agency for digital Italy (AgID), which acts as an intermediary when we log in, in addition to keeping our digital identity certificate.
A list of the providers we can use is available here -> Provider for SPID.
Once we have chosen the provider we want to use, we will have to create a new account with it by entering all the required data (including an email address and a telephone number); at the end of this phase we will have to carry out the recognition, i.e. certify that this account is ours and nobody else's.
To do this we are helped by the health card or the new electronic identity card, which contain a valid certificate to certify our digital identity.
If the operator supports it, then we use CNS, CRS or CIE for the recognition phase, as already seen in the other chapters of the guide: in this way we will quickly obtain the SPID, without having to go to an office or proceed with the recognition via Webcam ( for a fee).
The security level of the SPID is also guaranteed by the additional system of protection through a disposable code, sent via SMS or generated via a specific OTP app: in addition to the credentials of the SPID we will also have to enter the code obtained via SMS or via the app, so as to make secure access on each institutional site.
Once the SPID is obtained, we can also set aside the other authentication systems (CNS, CRS or CIE), since it replaces all of them.
To activate the SPID we refer you to the reading of the specific guide that we have created on the subject.
READ ALSO -> How to activate SPID: complete guide
5) How to prove access via CNS, CRS, CIE and SPID
To try all the types of authentication that we have proposed in this guide, we can use the institutional site offered by the Tuscany region -> Secure network access Tuscany.
From this site, also accessible by citizens residing in other Italian regions, just click on the Authenticated access button at the top right to show the login screen.
We use the right button based on the authentication system we want to use:
- to test the CNS or CRS, we use the red Enter button with CNS ;
- to test the SPID, we use the blue Enter button with SPID ;
- finally to test the CIE, we use the blue Enter button with CIE .
With SPID we will have to provide the access credentials and confirm the OTP code generated with the dedicated app, while with CNS and CIE we will have to use the appropriate smart card readers and, at the right time, enter the card PIN to confirm access .
