Norwegian BankID Scheme Based on Cybertrust PKI Solution Wins eema Award for Excellence

Cybertrust®, the global information security specialist, can reveal that its UniCERT ® public key infrastructure (PKI) software is at the heart of the Norwegian BankID scheme, winner of the Award for Excellence in Secure Electronic Business.

The BankID scheme, delivered by Oslo-based Banking and Business Solutions (BBS), was presented with the award by eema, the independent European association for e-business.

The annual eema Award for Excellence is presented to the European project that has delivered a successful and groundbreaking e-business security solution, providing significant practical benefits gained over a period of at least 12 months.

The Norwegian BankID Scheme enables members of the Norwegian public to identify themselves and digitally sign documents from authorities, companies and other organisations on the Internet by using the BankID electronic identification and signature system. Cybertrust’s UniCERT PKI digital certification solution was selected by BBS as the software at the centre of the BankID Scheme.

"The Norwegian BankID project embodies our award criteria, demonstrating the innovative employment of PKI to manage an e-identification and trust service which essentially gives a less costly yet highly secure alternative to smart cards," comments Head of Special Projects at eema, Roger Dean.

He continues, "BBS and the BankID scheme has adhered to all PKI standards and ensured a high level of end user mobility and subsequently achieved a first for information security. This solution has numerous potential applications worldwide including ePayments and Web banking."

Eivin Hansen, Business Manager for BBS says, "BBS and the BankID Scheme are very honoured to receive the eema Award for Excellence for what we have achieved in the Norwegian market. The award is a credit to all the stakeholders for designing and accepting the BankID solution assuring wide usage and end-user mobility."

Using UniCERT, the Norwegian banks have already issued 600,000 BankID certificates since spring 2005 and the number is set to double within the next six months. It is expected to reach all online banking users in Norway – approximately 2,300,000. One-hundred eighty-two merchants are involved with the BankID Scheme, including all Norwegian and key Nordic banks and banking groups. The BankID Scheme delivers the world’s first Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) solution to successfully provide a full roaming solution for qualified certificates to all market segments.

"The BankID Scheme demonstrates Cybertrust’s award-winning capability in digital certificate management solutions. Companies such as BBS choose to work with us because of the quality of our UniCERT offering and our proven expertise. More and more organisations across Europe trust Cybertrust and UniCERT to deliver major e-government and e-business PKI initiatives. We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to work with BBS on such an exciting, milestone project," says John Holland, Cybertrust Senior Vice President and European General Manager.