SkIDentity realises the “ID“ in FIDO

[Michelau/Berlin, January 23rd 2018] After supporting various international identity documents in compliance with the eIDAS-Regulation in last autumn, the multiple awarded and certified SkIDentity Service (https://skidentity.com) now also provides support for so called FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) U2F (Universal Second Factor) tokens. This allows that „Cloud Identities“, which have been derived from an electronic identity document (eID) can now be protected by an additional cryptographic hardware token. Through SkIDentity the modern FIDO security technology can now not only be used for strong authentication, but also for trustworthy identities.

SkIDentity mobilizes electronic identity documents in compliance with eIDAS

The “Regulation (EU) No. 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market and repealing Directive 1999/93/EC”, commonly known as “eIDAS-Regulation”, provides a uniform framework for cross-border use of electronic identity documents (eID) in Europe. Since last autumn the multiple awarded and certified SkIDentity Service (https://skidentity.com) also supports electronic identity documents from Belgium, Estonia, Georgia, Luxembourg, Portugal and Serbia in addition to the German eID card. In the course of an online identification, so called “Cloud Identities” can be derived from those chip card based ID cards and transferred to the user’s personal smart phone in a secure way. This enables the use of these trustworthy identities for a strong pseudonymous authentication or a self-determined proof of identity in a mobile environment as well.

SkIDentity realises the “ID“ in FIDO (Fast IDentity Online)

The FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) Alliance (www.fidoalliance.org) was formed in July 2012 to enhance the interoperability between strong authentication technologies and to improve the usability and security of respective solutions. The technical specifications of the FIDO Alliance contain a “Universal Authentication Framework“ (UAF) as well as a generic option to increase the security of existing authentication mechanisms through the use of additional cryptographic hardware tokens (“Universal Second Factor“, U2F). By now more than 250 companies and organisations – among them the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) – support the FIDO Alliance, with a total of over 400 certified products existing.

Through the FIDO U2F support in SkIDentity, ‘Cloud Identities‘ derived from identity documents can be protected by an additional authentication factor“, explains Dr. Detlef Hühnlein, CEO of ecsec GmbH. “We are happy that through SkIDentity the ‘ID‘ in FIDO is finally filled with life and that this modern security technology can now not only be used for strong authentication, but also for trustworthy identities.

About SkIDentity

The SkIDentity Service has been developed since 2012 with the support of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi) within the “Trusted Cloud” initiative, the European Commission and the Bavarian Ministry of Finance by an interdisciplinary team, which is coordinated by ecsec GmbH and comprises experts from ENX Association, Fraunhofer institutes for industrial engineering (IAO) and computer graphics (IGD), OpenLimit SignCubes GmbH, Ruhr University of Bochum, University of Passau, Urospace GmbH and Versicherungswirtschaftlicher Datendienst GmbH. In addition the SkIDentity team is supported by major associations and federations such as the Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (Bundesverband Informationswirtschaft, Telekommunikation und neue Medien e.V., BITKOM), the German EuroCloud association (EuroCloud Deutschland_eco e.V.), the ProSTEP iViP association and TeleTrusT – IT Security Association Germany and well known enterprises such as DATEV eG, easy Login GmbH, media transfer AG, noris network AG, SAP AG, SiXFORM GmbH, Giesecke & Devrient GmbH and selected chambers of industry and commerce.

https://www.skidentity.com

About ecsec GmbH

ecsec is a specialized vendor of innovative solutions in the sector of security in the information and communication technology, security management, smart card technology, identity management, web security and electronic signature technology. Based on experiences from several consulting projects with international reach ecsec GmbH counts to the leading providers in this sector and supports well known customers within the conception and implementation of tailor-made solutions. Due to the observance of current results of science and technology and current and future international standards, an excellent consulting quality and sustainable customer prosperity are guaranteed.

https://ecsec.de

Number of words: 693

Contact:

Dr. Detlef Hühnlein

SkIDentity c/o ecsec GmbH

Sudetenstraße 16

96247 Michelau, Germany

E-Mail: skidentity@ecsec.de

https://skidentity.com

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