iD2 takes Bull by the horns in e-business security venture

Cryptography developer iD2 has struck a deal with security integrator and consultant Bull Information Systems (BIS) to jointly launch e-business security systems.

The alliance will see the development and integration of PKI-based digital signature systems, smart cards and strong user authentication, targeting the corporate, financial and e-business sectors.

These will be managed by iD2's certificate manager suite of tools for the creation and maintenance of digital identities. The alliance claims that management will allow flexibility in enterprises establishing their own Certification Authorities (CA) for the management of digital identities.

Claes Bidemar, VP at iD2, said the conglomeration would allow for delivery of a "quick-start program to banking institutions within the Identrus network. The network enables enterprises to securely manage their business-to-business and e-business data through a trusted relationship with partners and clients.

According to Philippe Destison, VP of BIS, more and more e-businesses are looking to use PKI technology "that can not only identify users over a network, whether it is a VPN or the internet, but also offers non-repudiation and encryption services as building blocks for their on-line businesses."

According to Gartner Group, 83 per cent of business is conducted using paper forms. This is reckoned to be costing the national economy nearly £400bn per year in printing, data entry and processing. Gartner said that conducting these processes online could offer considerable savings, but this would depend on trusting a third party, which they would never deal with face-to-face.

However, the researcher said that digital signatures and strong user-authentication would help to offer that level of reassurance.