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certgate and Reiner SCT will cooperate in future on creating products for smartcard security for all mobile devices with Bluetooth capability.
The cooperation partners are currently already developing their first joint product, the “cgToken”. A prototype will be given to selected users this summer as it moves to the pilot phase. cgToken is the size of a key ring, and in combination with a mobile device, safeguards critical company infrastructures. The tiny device has been designed for all smartphones or tablets that do not have an NFC interface or SD card slot. The Token provides both, for example facilitating contactless access control or mobile payment processes.
cgToken has its own SIM card slot, a Bluetooth module and an NFC interface. With this new development it is now possible for the first time to use the certgate smartcard technology across platforms and also in mobile devices without microSD support. In doing so the partners are creating innovative platform-independent hardware security for email, PKI use and for mobile payment and time and access solutions. The BSI “SiMKo3” project only recently demonstrated that when it comes to IT security, there is no substitute for hardware. However it is not possible to use any hardware-based “secure elements” on some of the very popular mobile devices used by end customers.
“We are now closing this gap with cgToken”, explains Helmut Friedel, CEO of certgate and initiator of the partnership.
Klaus Bechtold, Managing Director of Reiner SCT, adds: “Here, for the first time, we are combining chip card technology, NFC and Bluetooth in a minute device. This is a milestone for REINER SCT.”
cgToken is OTA-capable
Another particularly important feature of cgToken is its OTA-capability (OTA = Over-the-Air). As a result the Bluetooth token can, where necessary, be configured by a central point such as the IT administration of a company via an air interface. This makes it possible to assign new authorisations to individual tokens spontaneously and irrespective of location via the mobile phone network.
According to certgate COO Axel Stett, following the pilot phase the cgToken should be available as product in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) as from the autumn of this year. Distribution will be expanded to the international partner network at the end of the year. Target customers are all large and medium-sized companies as well as authorities and organisations that have to manage specific employee authorisations on a number of mobile platforms.
Technical information for cgToken
▪ Security anchor with NFC capability and with the size of a key ring, for mobile devices which do not permit use of the classic certgate hardware modules in a microSD format of the type cgCard
▪ Device uses certgate middleware and communication software
▪ Communication optionally via Bluetooth 2.1 or Bluetooth SMART
▪ Hardware security for S/MIME email, for PKI use and for mobile payment and time and access solutions
▪ cgToken functions across platforms, and therefore also with iOS and Android devices
▪ cgToken has a battery with a battery life of up to 24 months when used with Bluetooth SMART (4.0 BLE)