Gezinsbond shares member data securely and in a controlled manner with its external partners

In order to represent the interests of families in Flanders and Brussels, Gezinsbond collaborates with various external parties. For effective cooperation, it is necessary for them to have access to personal data of the members of Gezinsbond. As part of a digitisation programme, Gezinsbond wanted to exchange this data electronically. To do this in a controlled and secure manner, the organisation asked several IT companies to submit proposals for this. Read here how the Anchr integration experts concretely carried out this project.

To enable the systems of Gezinsbond and other external partners to communicate with each other in an efficient and industry-standard way, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are required. A crucial component of this solution is an API Management Platform, which allows developed APIs to be made available to third parties in a controlled and secure manner. Anchr has guided Gezinsbond in finding a suitable platform. The choice was made for the open-source solution Gravitee.
Decisive for this choice was primarily the accessibility of the Gravitee platform. The open-source model of Gravitee requires less investment than other platforms and is easier and faster to install and configure, which fits better given the size of an organisation like Gezinsbond. 

The Anchr integration experts have set up the API Management Platform. It was decided to host the platform and its management in the cloud. This is provided by Gravitee itself thanks to this cloud solution.

To effectively secure the platform and ensure safe data exchange, Anchr has set up a Mutual Transport Layer Security (MTLS). This mutual authentication, or two-way authentication, refers to both parties authenticating each other simultaneously. Additionally, the security ensures that only employees of recognized external partners can call the APIs on Gravitee. This is done using a Developer portal. Before an IT organisation can use the platform, the company must first register on the developer portal of Gravitee, part of the API management solution. Gezinsbond must first approve the application on the platform, after which an API key will be released. With this key, external partners can call the APIs.

The API key also serves to identify who is accessing the data. It adds an extra layer of security between access to the network (gateway) and the outside world. Anchr has also applied MTLS here. Every API call is recorded by the platform and stored in an internal database. This keeps track of who made the call, at what times, and which APIs were consulted. An audit log for GDPR purposes is maintained by the APIs themselves.

Gezinsbond is the largest independent family association in Belgium and defends the interests of all families in Flanders and Brussels, regardless of religious, ideological, or political beliefs and regardless of the composition of the families. The interests of the children always come first. The organisation is there for both small and large families, young and old families, two-parent and single-parent families, traditional and newly blended families, for parents and grandparents, for foster or adoptive parents, and for caregivers...
 
With various activities, they bring families together, while also arranging benefits and discounts with external suppliers. 

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