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According to the organisations, the deal will see Post.Trust make ArcotID, Arcot's digital authentication product, available to users of Post.Trust's secure e-mail product, SafeMail. According to Post.Trust SafeMail is due to be launched later this summer.
Post.Trust claims it will be the only digital certificate provider to certify members of the Irish public through face to face enrollments, requiring users to provide photo identification. Following enrollment in the system, Post.Trust will distribute CD-ROMs containing users' digital certificates and ArcotID.
Post.Trust's goal is to issue digital certificates that will effectively be electronic business passports, providing provide proof of users' identity in Ireland. The certificates will provide a digital identity that can be used to sign e-mail and conduct business over open and closed networks, including the Internet.
"We are combining strong authentication, face-to-face verification and digital certification to provide our customers with a security infrastructure that confirms beyond all doubt the identity of online consumers," said John Cronin, managing director of Post.Trust.
Cronin said Post.Trust had investigated a number of digital ID applications, and selected ArcotID because of its ease of use, relative low cost, and high technological sophistication.
The Arcot solution is based on Arcot's WebFort authentication product. This gives each individual an ArcotID, which stores an individual's digital credentials in a tamperproof software container that can be activated using a PIN number. The software container is protected by Arcot's "Cryptographic Camouflage," which the company claims is impervious to any direct offline attacker.
The ArcotID has a small memory footprint and can be downloaded to PC or mobile devices including mobile phones and PDAs.
In addition to its SafeMail product, Post.Trust is developing a number of additional products, including Secure Web, a secure communications tool between Web sites and Web users in commercial and financial enterprises, and Secure Document Delivery, which will offer the transfer of digitally signed documents.
Post.Trust was founded by An Post after it concluded that Ireland lacked a reliable system to ensure the security and authenticity of documents. Post.Trust was established as An Post's National Level Certification Authority to address this void. This decision was further bolstered by the Irish Electronic Commerce Act (July 2000), according to the agency, which now provides for the legal recognition of digital signatures.
Arcot was founded in 1997 in California and currently employs around 150. The company is privately held and backed by a number of venture capital groups, including Accel Partners, First Union Bank, Novell., Oracle Corporation, ONSET Ventures, Raza Venture Fund, SEBanken and Visa International.
The two companies can be found at www.arcot.com/europe and www.post.trust.ie
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