The U-trust Consortium*, which was selected to provide the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for LuxTrust S.A. – a company created by the Luxembourg Government and several major players from the private sector in Luxembourg to provide PKI services to Luxembourg citizens - has appointed leading security provider, Cryptomathic, as a key technology provider for the scheme.
The project is to go live during the second semester of 2007.
Cryptomathic will work alongside the U-trust Consortium to deliver a highly innovative 'virtual smart card' solution to LuxTrust S.A. This will eliminate the cost of issuing standard smart cards and readers and increase usage amongst citizens by making transactions enabled by the PKI in compliance to the EU regulations - including for example the secure filing of official documents like tax returns etc. - secure email - as user-friendly as possible. The solution will also be used by banks to secure transactions and authentication.
Citizens' sensitive data will be maintained on secured servers, provided by Cryptomathic, which store users' private keys, essentially creating a 'virtual smart card'. Such a technology enables individual citizens to retain secure control over the data on the server - or their 'virtual smart card' - via a remote two factor authentication process, which works with both VASCO Digipass authentication devices and SMS authentication mechanisms.
One of the Cryptomathic servers (the Cryptomathic Authenticator) will be used to authenticate users strongly and the other, (the Cryptomathic Signer), to digitally sign transactions and apply a time stamp thus ensuring non repudiation. End-users can use their 'virtual smart card' with enabled Web applications or on their terminals via a middleware application, known as Cryptomathic PrimeInk, to enable them to connect up the PKI services and digitally sign documents. Support for legacy PKI smart cards is also offered.
The PKI infrastructure and the authentication servers are hosted by Clearstream Services and the Signing and Time Stamping servers are hosted by CETREL. Cryptomathic has been appointed as a technology provider, and advisor, to the LuxTrust project.
Peter Landrock, Executive Chairman and co-Founder of Cryptomathic, comments: "The LuxTrust Project will become the first nationwide initiative, aimed at providing iining individuals with innovative trusted PKI services, to eliminate the cost associated with distributing smart cards and readers, by using a 'virtual smart card' solution."
Pierre Zimmer, Managing Director of LuxTrust, adds: "The solution provided by Cryptomathic is interoperable, mobile and extremely secure. It is also user friendly, since end-users can authenticate themselves using either a mobile phone, which receives a one-time password, or a one button token."
* The U-trust Consortium comprises Centre de Transferts Electroniques (CETREL - Prime Contractor), Deutsche Börse subsidiary Clearstream Services, e-payments processor HITEC and E-Business and Resilience Centre (eBRC).