VeriSign launches PKI for governments

Governments throughout the world could benefit from the VeriSign PKI Platform

Online security vendor VeriSign today launched a major new solution designed to give governments a scalable technology platform to undertake secure, money-saving public key infrastructure (PKI) projects.

The new VeriSign PKI Platform will provide the software, infrastructure and expertise necessary to roll out electronic passports, national ID programmes and other e-government projects, the firm claimed.

"In the early days, PKI was billed as the solution to eliminate the user ID and password conundrum, but it never achieved the level of deployment billed," said Phil D'Angio, director of business development at VeriSign.

"However, in the last few years we've seen a resurgence in PKI because it's a very good technology to strongly authenticate a device, person or business, and has functionality to encrypt data in transit and at rest, and adds an element of digital signing."

D'Angio explained that the government solution would draw on VeriSign's 14 years of experience in delivering PKI as a managed service, and would help governments to roll out services for citizens, as well as internal projects between governmental agencies.

The PKI Platform is already being used by the Greek Ministry of the Interior to authenticate citizens and secure electronic transactions, and by the Receita Federal do Brazil to enable citizens to securely submit tax forms online.

The solution could appeal further because users could theoretically utilise the same strong authentication credentials for non-government use such as e-commerce and banking, added D'Angio.