Brokat: mobile digital signatures rule
A dedicated PC and a separate signing device will no longer be required as the wireless phone becomes in itself a signing device, says Brokat as it touts mobile digital signatures
Online merchants can now use digital signatures to authenticate and execute secure transactions from mobile devices with Brokat Technologies' new M-Trust Server software.
Brokat claims that M-Trust Server is the first software that enables every mobile device to use secure digital signatures for e-commerce processes.
"The end users initiate 'signing' with the mobile digital signature from their mobile phone or PDA. In either case, he or she receives electronic verification of the transaction and can digitally confirm that it is correct," said Peter Ummenhofer, director of product marketing for Brokat Server Technologies division.
"As a result, high-value and non-repudiable transactions can be securely placed over any channel - Internet, call center, kiosk, wireless, or point-of-sale," he added.
Unlike most other solutions that depend on the rollout of public key infrastructure (PKI) onto the mobile phone handset, M-Trust Server works with existing mobile devices, as well as the latest models being introduced this year.
A complement to Brokat Server Technologies multi-channel infrastructure software, Brokat M-Trust Server introduces multiple usage scenarios, for example signing a bid at an online auction or opening a bank account online.
The M-Trust Server supports the protocol established by the mSign Consortium, a Brokat initiative that aims at creating and establishing a global de facto standard for the mobile digital signature.
MSign has recently partnered wireless e-commerce consortium Radicchio to further pursue this end. The two bodies plan to formally merge their international activities later this year to jointly push forward the technology for secure wireless transactions and the adoption of the digital signature.
Radicchio has identified PKI as the foundation to securing m-commerce transactions globally. It believes that authentication cryptography makes wireless e-commerce even more secure than traditional "pen-and-ink" transactions.
Over fifty technology, telecommunications and security providers such as SmartTrust, Ericcson, Gemplus, Vodafone, Schlumberger and MasterCard are members of Radicchio.
MSign, founded in December 1999, has 35 members, including Siemens, Deutsche Telekom, Hewlett-Packard, Verisign and Mitsubishi.
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