Second-largest primary insurer to leverage Entrust grid cards based on affordability, security and ease of use

DALLAS, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Generali Deutschland Informatik Services GmbH, the IT branch of Generali Deutschland, the second largest primary insurance group in the German market, required an affordable, easy-to-use authentication platform to secure access to a new Web portal for field agents and sales staff. Citing streamlined deployment and a wide range of authentication choices, the organization selected Entrust, Inc., and the trusted security vendor's Entrust IdentityGuard versatile authentication platform.

"Our main goal was to move toward a strong second-factor authentication solution, but do so in a way that fit within our budget and was easy for our sales staff to use on a daily basis," said Arndt Bickhoff, GDIS management. "Entrust's solution is proven and we look forward to leveraging their expertise to help secure access to our corporate environments."

The company's goal was to move away from preconfigured hardware and IP-Sec VPN clients toward a Web-based portal approach. To secure this migration, user IDs and passwords were deemed insufficient to properly protect up to 100,000 user accounts. In the end, GDIS was won over by Entrust's grid card authenticator and its convenient form factor, straightforward use and cost-effective deployment.

"Adopting a policy that mandates strong authentication is one of the most important strategies a security-conscious organization can make," said Entrust President and CEO Bill Conner. "It's clear that Generali Deutschland Informatik Services has their customers' best interests in mind and they are taking the appropriate steps to ensure all are secure while also protecting the organization's brand."

Generali Deutschland Informatik Services will produce the custom-branded grid cards internally for the first 25,000 users, with deployment commencing in September 2009. The Entrust IdentityGuard implementation also includes integration with IBM Tivoli Access Manager (TAM) 6.1, WebSphere, Tivoli Directory and other enterprise applications.

Entrust's patented grid card is a unique, credit card-sized authenticator consisting of numbers and characters in a row-column format. Upon login, users are presented with a coordinate challenge and must respond with the information in the corresponding cells from the unique grid card they possess. Organizations are able to deploy grids both physically and electronically, providing tremendous flexibility to end-users.

The Entrust IdentityGuard versatile authentication platform is recognized as a benchmark for strong multifactor authentication and helps address a range of security and regulatory legislation requirements. Leading global financial institutions, enterprises and government agencies have deployed the platform, including Expedia, Commerce Bank, Bank of New Zealand, Banco Santander Santiago, Goteborg University, Ministry of Economic Development of New Zealand, SCHUFA, Arbetsformedligen, Alaska Law Enforcement Information Sharing System, Vejle Amt, Aristex, Swedish National Labor Market Administration, Skanska and more.

Entrust IdentityGuard enables organizations to layer security -- according to access requirements or the risk of a given transaction -- across diverse users and applications. The platform's authentication options include username and password, IP-geolocation, device, questions and answers, out-of-band one-time passcode (delivered via voice, SMS or e-mail), grid cards (physical or eGrid) cards, digital certificates and a range of one-time-password tokens. Entrust IdentityGuard also provides multiple methods of supporting mutual authentication, including picture and caption replay. Integrated with a zero-touch fraud detection solution, as offered by Entrust, Entrust IdentityGuard delivers the right authenticator for the right level of assessed risk, all in a single platform.

About Generali Deutschland Informatik Services

Headquartered in Aachen, Germany, Generali Deutschland Informatik Services GmbH is responsible for information technology within the Generali Deutschland Group, which consists of 13.5 million customers and the international Generali Group. Its core competency is the stable and cost-efficient operation of a multiplatform infrastructure and the development of resourceful, future-oriented IT applications for the German and the international Generali Group companies. The company's goal is to provide its customers with a comprehensive range of high-quality IT services.

About Entrust

Entrust provides trusted solutions that secure digital identities and information for enterprises and governments in 2,000 organizations spanning 60 countries. Offering trusted security for less, Entrust solutions represent the right balance between affordability, expertise and service. These include SSL, strong authentication, fraud detection, digital certificates and PKI. For information, call 888-690-2424, e-mail entrust@entrust.com or visit www.entrust.com.

Entrust is a registered trademark of Entrust, Inc. in the United States and certain other countries. In Canada, Entrust is a registered trademark of Entrust Limited. All Entrust product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Entrust, Inc. or Entrust Limited. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Entrust, Inc.

Back to top

RELATED LINKS
http://www.entrust.com