German software supplier Secude has conducted the first live demonstrations of its Public Key Infrastructure technology in partnership with Identrus at the Swift international banking show in San Francisco.
Identrus is a bank-backed initiative to establish binding standards for secure online transactions. The Secude Identrus solution, called TransFair, uses digital signatures and encryption technology to authenticate online counterparties.
TransFair consists of two components: TransFair Server and TransFair Client. On the client side, it is a plug-in for Netscape Communicator or MS Internet Explorer for signing the transactions; on the server side it consists of a security library for integration into existing Web applications, in particular for Internet shops and marketplaces. Signed transactions are transmitted between merchant and customer according to the Identrus requirements.
Secude claims to have implemented the world's first Identrus system solution - in cooperation with IBM - for Deutsche Bank. Secude Identrus solutions are also being trialed at Dresdner Bank, Hypovereinsbank and Bank of America.
Since February 1999, emagine GmbH, a Deutsche Bank group member, has been a majority shareholder of Secude.