Kahendkoodis

Kahendkoodis are a type of encryption technology developed for internal use by Estonian government agencies and third-party companies. It gained significant attention in 2017 for its alleged use by the Estonian government to communicate with citizens.

The term "kahendkoodis" roughly translates to "second-level code" in English, referring to the innovative encryption method's two-stage encoding process. In the first stage, data is encoded into a cipher text using complex algorithms. The second stage involves further manipulation of the cipher text to ensure its authenticity.

Kahendkoodis was designed to balance security with ease of use, allowing citizens to receive and decipher government messages via SMS or other digital channels. It utilizes a proprietary key, unique to each communication session. This ensures secure and accurate transmission of sensitive information without relying on public key infrastructure.

Numerous sources confirm that the Estonian government's use of kahendkoodis was to share information related to national security and healthcare with the public during critical periods. Some speculations about its general functionality have emerged in the media, yet no concrete, open-source replication of the technology exists. The encryption method is reportedly incompatible with existing security standards due to its reliance on proprietary implementations and techniques.

Kahendkoodis attracted international publicity for its unsanctioned use by southeastern European countries. Observers have expressed interest in the concept; however, detailed analyses and critiques remain absent due to the scarcity of publicly available information regarding the Kahendkoodis algorithm itself.