Entrust's Software Authentication Platform Transforms Smartphones into Multipurpose Digital Identities for Secure Physical, Logical and Cloud Access

DALLAS, Oct. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- To enable organizations to secure and leverage mobile devices in the wake of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trends, Entrust extends its comprehensive identity-based security platform with Entrust IdentityGuard Mobile Smart Credentials. Available for the Apple iOS, Google Android and RIM BlackBerry mobile platforms, Entrust IdentityGuard Mobile Smart Credentials transform mobile devices into multipurpose digital identities for authenticated access to logical networks, cloud applications, physical facilities and building entrances.

"Entrust launched its mobile platform more than three years ago and we continue to innovate with practical capabilities that secure and leverage mobile devices across the enterprise," said Entrust President and CEO Bill Conner. "This technology helps organizations transform mobile devices into strong, multipurpose authenticators for physical, logical and cloud access while driving down the total cost of ownership as part of bring-your-own-device initiatives."

The Entrust Mobile Smart Credential is core to Entrust's broad mobile security portfolio that both secures and leverages the mobile enterprise. This layered, two-pronged approach helps secure mobile identities through the use of device certificates, mobile device management (MDM) integration, as well as transparent monitoring and authentication.

Complimenting those capabilities, Entrust's mobile innovation also helps organizations leverage mobile devices for strong, easy-to-use authentication, which includes two-factor authentication, out-of-band transaction confirmation, mobile smart credentials and future authenticator technology (e.g., biometrics, GPS).

Secure, Easy to Use and Always on Hand
Entrust IdentityGuard enables organizations to leverage everyday smartphones to easily authenticate identities for physical, logical and cloud-based resources, as well as digitally signing data. By taking advantage of near-field communication (NFC) and Bluetooth standards, Entrust embeds digital certificates on smartphones to create trusted identity credentials for stronger, more convenient enterprise authentication.

"Mobile smart credentials offer the value of smartcard authentication while simplifying security for end-users and streamlining the provision process," said Conner. "Easy-to-use mobile credentials help improve security with embedded technology such a location-based tracking, Bluetooth, NFC, and biometrics capture and provide an out-of-band channel that's critical to defeat malware-based attacks within the enterprises."

The mobile platform not only simplifies authentication for end-users, but also helps organizations reduce costs by eliminating the need for dedicated authentication hardware such as tokens, smartcards and smartcard readers.

Entrust IdentityGuard Mobile Smart Credentials augment security and user convenience by leveraging Bluetooth to automatically detect and connect to workstations — simply by prompting users to enter a PIN. And once a user leaves the proximity of their machine, Entrust IdentityGuard Mobile Smart Credentials can automatically lock the user session, ensuring logical access to the desktop is secured at all times.

Growing Trust in Mobile Devices
As leading technology organizations — Google and Apple, for example — focus on consumer-driven use for mobile devices (e.g., mobile wallets and payments vehicles), Entrust parallels this mobile innovation with a focus on empowering enterprises with solutions that leverage the mobile platform to address the need for stronger, more simple identity-based security. The ubiquity of mobile devices, as well as the growth of BYOD initiatives, allows enterprises to concurrently strengthen security, increase user adoption and greatly reduce costs.

"Entrust is helping transform smartphones — devices end-users are already comfortable with, trust and always have on hand — into enterprise-grade authenticators," said Conner. "The familiarity that users gain on the consumer side is directly benefiting the trust and understanding needed for wide-spread enterprise use. The parallel mobile movements are working together to help usher in great new standards in security, communication and transactions."

Enterprise-Wide — A Comprehensive Identity-Based Security Platform
While harnessing the power of existing end-user devices as authenticators for physical, logical and cloud application access provides clear value, Entrust's comprehensive authentication platform also integrates with existing IT systems and business processes for unmatched deployment versatility.

With the flexibility to be co-deployed alongside outgoing legacy systems, Entrust's comprehensive software authentication platform bridges emerging technologies for strong mobility, cloud and smart credentialing offerings.

Entrust's flagship authentication solution, Entrust IdentityGuard, continues to lead the industry as one of the most robust software authentication platforms, delivering an unmatched breadth of capabilities and flexibility to meet the most demanding security environments.

The solution enables organizations to layer security — according to access requirements or the risk of a given transaction — across diverse users and applications. Entrust's diverse set of authentication capabilities include smartcards and USB tokens, soft tokens, grid cards and eGrids, IP-geolocation, questions and answers, mobile smart credentials, out-of-band one-time passcode (delivered via voice, SMS or email), out-of-band transaction verification and a range of one-time-passcode tokens.

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About Entrust
A trusted provider of identity-based security solutions, Entrust secures governments, enterprises and financial institutions in more than 5,000 organizations spanning 85 countries. Entrust's award-winning software authentication platforms manage today's most secure identity credentials, addressing customer pain points for cloud and mobile security, physical and logical access, citizen eID initiatives, certificate management and SSL. For more information about Entrust products and services, call 888-690-2424, email [email protected] 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. Google and Android are trademarks or registered trademarks of Google Inc. Apple is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. Research In Motion, RIM and BlackBerry are trademarks or registered trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. IOS is a trademark or registered trademark of Cisco. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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SOURCE Entrust