Entrust Uses Near-Field Communication, Bluetooth to Bring Enterprise Credentials, Management to Popular Mobile Devices

DALLAS, Feb. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Entrust, Inc. is extending its Entrust IdentityGuard strong authentication platform to offer smart credentials on mobile devices for enterprise-grade security. Taking advantage of near-field communication (NFC) and Bluetooth standards, Entrust embeds biometrics and digital certificates on smartphones to create trusted identity credentials for stronger, more convenient enterprise authentication.

"As a result of IT consumerization, enterprises are now required to properly authenticate devices. With our new NFC and Bluetooth capabilities, organizations may use today's popular mobile devices as advanced authenticators," said Entrust President and CEO Bill Conner. "Entrust solutions can empower enterprises to use the mobile channel to deliver improved total cost of ownership and uphold critical compliance standards, while reducing the complexity of enterprise-grade authentication solutions."

Mobile Devices Make Smarter Credentials

Now available via the software-based Entrust IdentityGuard versatile authentication platform, organizations are able to use biometrics and digital certificates to leverage mobile devices as smart credentials for logical access to corporate and wireless networks, web authentication, and physical access to buildings and other facilities. For even greater convenience, NFC (physical and logical) and Bluetooth (logical) may be used to streamline mobile-based authentication.

Authenticated desktop logins are as simple as having a mobile device in proximity of a workstation, but is more secure than most of today's standard security offerings.  In fact, on compatible devices, Bluetooth capabilities may bring additional features to smartphones, such as proximity-based auto-lockout of desktops and laptops.

"This evolution of our authentication solution further builds on Entrust's vision that the software platform approach is one of the easiest, most cost-effective strategies for organizations, enterprises and governments requiring strong authentication," said Conner. "Many security vendors claim they provide a full authentication platform, but in reality they've pieced together separate point solutions. That's where Entrust IdentityGuard is different -- it's built from the ground up as a single, comprehensive software platform."

By delivering updated credentials to mobile devices -- anytime and anywhere -- via secure online channels, organizations can more effectively eliminate the risk of physical smartcards being intercepted or lost in the mail, and also remove expensive and time-consuming shipping obstacles.

Compatible on today's most popular mobile platforms, including Apple iOS, RIM BlackBerry and Google Android, Entrust leverages industry-standard technologies, including Personal Identity Verification (PIV), for higher security and interoperability than proprietary systems.

Integration with MDM, IAM Vendors

Entrust IdentityGuard also introduces new API architecture designed to allow for tight integration with today's leading mobile device management (MDM), identity and access management (IAM), and public key infrastructure (PKI) vendors. This provides welcomed interoperability, via standards-based interfaces, with new and existing enterprise security implementations. This approach may even leverage in-house or managed service-based digital certificates.

Secure Email for the Enterprise

The enhanced  Entrust IdentityGuard solution will also include certificate-onboarding to mobile devices for certificate-based authentication and S/MIME-based decryption and signing of email. Advanced secure email capabilities include synchronization, key history and encryption across enterprise desktops and mobile platforms.

Third-Party Perspective

In a July 2011 Forrester Research Inc. report, "Forrsights: Mobility Dominates Enterprise Telecom Trends in 2011," Forrester principal analyst and report author Michele Pelino outlines the popularity of consumerization and the growth of personal devices in enterprise environments.

"Expanded smartphone support by many enterprises is driven by the sharp increase in employee adoption of smartphones for work purposes, up to 25 percent from 18 percent just six months ago," wrote Pelino. "It is also interesting to note that 60 percent of firms are providing some level of support for personally owned smartphones that employees bring into the office. This is an example of a phenomenon we call the consumerization of IT, where individuals drive an IT organization's requirement to support new types of mobile devices."

Self-Service Capabilities

To help reduce costs and enable greater efficiency, the enterprise credentials may even be managed by the end-user via the Entrust IdentityGuard Self-Service Module. This secure, Web-based interface can enable Entrust IdentityGuard users to manage many aspects of their accounts (e.g., device enrollment, obtaining of certificates, provisioning), freeing administrator time without compromising the security of the network.

End-users may even self-activate a new authenticator without the assistance of an administrator. Should a user misplace their authenticator, they can receive a temporary password or order a new authenticator without the need to contact their local help-desk.

Entrust IdentityGuard enables organizations to layer security — according to access requirements or the risk of a given transaction — across diverse users and applications. Entrust's authentication capabilities include smartcards and USB tokens, soft tokens, grid cards and eGrids, IP-geolocation, questions and answers, out-of-band one-time passcode (delivered via voice, SMS or email), and a range of one-time-passcode tokens. In addition, digital certificates are used on mobile devices, in software and on smartcards and USB tokens.

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About Entrust

A trusted provider of identity-based security solutions, Entrust empowers enterprises, governments, financial institutions, citizens and websites in more than 4,000 organizations spanning 60 countries. Entrust's customer-centric focus is the foundation to delivering organizations an unmatched level of security, trust and value. For strong authentication, credentialing, physical and logical access, mobile security, digital certificates, SSL and PKI, call 888-690-2424, email [email protected] or visit www.entrust.com. Let's talk.

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.

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SOURCE Entrust, Inc.