Solutions: PKI

Introduction

More and more companies use Digital Certificates for user authentication, document signing, and other security applications. More and more applications support the use of digital certificates. Unfortunately, deploying and managing digital certificates across a network is complex, and requires dedicated systems and software.

The security of such a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) system is dependent on the security of the keys. When these keys are compromised, the system itself is compromised. Standard methods of deploying and securing keys effectively lock the key in the PC. This makes it difficult to use a digital certificate across multiple sites and computers.

Solution

Raak Smart Cards and Tokens enable you to securely deploy, store and use digital certificates and cryptographic keys. Smart cards make it easy to deploy the certificate to the end user - no user participation in the provisioning process is required. And Smart card and Tokens make Digital Certificates portable.

Benefits

• Easy to deploy: With Smart Cards and Tokens the IT Manager can handle the key generation and certificate requests on behalf of the end user. This eliminates complex authentication and self enrollment processes for the end user.
• Two factor authentication: A user needs both the physical Smart Card or USB Smart Token and the Smart Card PIN code in order to authenticate. This protects against misuse even if the card is lost or stolen.
• Portability: Raak Smart Cards and Tokens enable use of many devices in other locations - their digital certificate and cryptographic data travel with them.
• Security against computer vulnerabilities: With normal certificates the private key associated with that certificate is stored on the computer, where it is vulnerable to attacks and security flaws. With a Raak digital certificate, the private key never leaves the smart card. All security operations occur on the card itself using the powerful cryptographic co-processor.
• Security against misuse: Unlike passwords or regular digital certificates, Smart Cards are secured against duplication. This makes smart cards indispensable for service providers that need to ensure the efficacy of the authentication process such as medical information suppliers and BtoB services.

How It Works

Raak Technologies has several smart cards and USB tokens that can be used in conjunction with the RaakSign Cryptographic Middleware. RaakSign interfaces to the applications and systems that use a digital certificate for authentication or encryption. RaakSign uses the Windows CryptoAPI through a Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP), and also supports applications that use the PKCS11 Interface.