Vodafone Germany and mobile security specialist Giesecke & Devrient have revealed an end-to-end encryption service based on a customer’s SIM card. The service, which is called Secure SIM Data, can be used to encrypt and sign emails, documents, data carriers and VPN connections.
This type of security would usually require a separate smartcard or security token to be used when logging on via a portable computing device. However, Secure SIM Data stores the digital private key and corresponding certificates on the SIM in the user’s notebook or tablet.
It’s being demonstrated for the first time at the CeBIT trade show using a standard Lenovo notebook running Windows 8. A customer simply enters a PIN to encrypt or decrypt their communication.
Carsten Ahrens, Group Senior Vice President at G&D’s Server Software and Services (3S) division, said “We created Vodafone Secure SIM Data as a simple, cost-efficient and above all secure value-added service based on the Vodafone SIM card for the telecommunications group’s corporate customers. It regulates access to sensitive data while also protecting mobile data communication effectively against attack.”
G&D says its solution can also be used to encrypt storage media such as USB sticks or hard drives.