Apr 3 2013
Ningbo CA, the Certificate Authority for the city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China, has teamed with Guardtime, the leading provider of Keyless Signature Infrastructure (KSI), to provide electronic data authentication for Ningbo government services.
Chaozong Chen, General Manager of Ningbo CA, said, "KSI's unique features such as independency of verification, intrinsic time binding for data, universal accessibility cross platforms and lack of keys allow us to provide functions and values where traditional public key infrastructure (PKI) is limited. The future proof from quantum computing is of course a major benefit."
"While our PKI based solutions have been widely adopted, we see a growing need to prove data integrity and time on a massive scale, with cases where customer identification registration is unpractical and less important, such as electronic receipts for cash based transactions," said Chaozong Chen. "These are where KSI can help. It is strategically important for us to start integrating KSI with our successful PKI solutions and this will help us maintain our leadership in the field."
Ningbo CA and Guardtime are collaborating to use KSI to digitally sign and timestamp data for electronic receipts and tax related government services together with existing PKI based solutions. Ningbo CA will be a local KSI distributor and service center for the Zhejiang province and its 55 million inhabitants.
"We are thrilled to announce the first Chinese Certificate Authority to select KSI for data authentication and look forward to working closely with Ningbo CA to drive new innovative solutions," said Jian Tan, Guardtime China General Manager.
Guardtime Chief Scientist Ahto Buldas added, "Recent announcements by Quantum Computing pioneers DWave confirm that it is only a matter of time before practical quantum computing becomes a reality and we strongly recommend that all Certificate Authorities consider KSI as a complementary service offering to existing PKI services. The verification does not rely on the security of cryptographic keys and can be derived using formal verification methods independently from the service provider. Security professionals can sleep easier at night and be prepared for a post-quantum cryptography world."
Most recently, Guardtime announced a partnership with the Philippines government to validate physical document integrity, with CAT Telecom, the state-owned telecommunications incumbent in Thailand, and with China Telecom, the largest fixed line telecommunications service provider in the People's Republic of China, establishing China Telecom as a Keyless Signature service provider via its Tianyi 3G platform.