Intesi Group and Thales to deliver eIDAS compliant signature solution

The two companies combine their advanced technologies for public and private organizations to benefit from cross-border digital processes made possible by eIDAS Regulation

Milan, 22 September, 2016 – Intesi Group, an Italian company operating in Information & Communication Technology, specializing in Digital Signature products and services and Application & Service Management, and Thales, leader in critical information systems, cybersecurity and data protection, announce a partnership to deliver an eIDAS compliant Digital Remote Signature solution that combines the technologies of the two companies – initially for the Italian market, with expansion plans throughout Europe.

The solution allows governments and companies from a variety of industries – such as banking, insurance and healthcare – and government bodies to seize the opportunities brought by eIDAS Regulation EU 910/2014 for the implementation of paperless processes and digital cross-border business.

The eIDAS Regulation came into force on 1 July 2016 to ensure the interoperability and legal certainty of trust services: electronic signatures play an important role in delivering trust services and enable the free circulation of electronic documents with legal validity throughout the EU.

The two companies have now integrated their technologies: Intesi Group PkBox and Thales nShield Hardware Security Modules (HSMs), delivering the highest performance and security standards and certified according to the eIDAS requirements.

PkBox is one of the most powerful and flexible security servers on the market for the management of massive digital signatures, as specified by Italian law, and supports applications dealing with logical data security. PkBox can be used for in-house deployments and is also the base of Time4Mind – Intesi Group’s remote signature cloud services offering.

Last May the Austrian certification body A-SIT assigned Secure Signature Creation Device (SSCD) certification to the most recent version of PkBox 3.1, which certifies full support for all new regulatory and technical requirements. In light of this PkBox is valid for extended use throughout all EU member countries.

Thales nShield HSMs also received a certificate of conformity and Common Criteria level EAL4+ certification from Organization for Information Security Certification (OCSI). This certification recognizes Thales nShield HSMs as SSCDs as well as a Qualified Signature Creation Devices (QSCDs) in compliance with the eIDAS Regulation and guarantees the creation of a secure electronic signature with full legal validity.

“Signing a partnership with an important and international company like Thales honors us” – says Fernando Catullo, CEO at Intesi Group – “and confirms our leadership in the digital signature market. Our company is now perceived as a reference point in Italy – a country which plays a leading role in Europe. The cooperation with Thales will soon bring big changes in several Italian vertical markets, where the use of remote digital signatures is increasingly common and unavoidable. We are sure that the same will happen in the rest of the European Union”.

PkBox 3.1 integrates with Thales’s market leading nShield HSMs to protect and manage the cryptographic keys used to support the entire document signing process. The result is a fully certified high performance solution which allows the management of very high volumes of users and transactions (such as massive digital signatures, signature verification, authentication and encryption) with maximum flexibility, reliability and scalability, offering users an easy to use experience accessible via both web and mobile.

“Thales nShield HSMs serve as the root of trust for encryption-based data protection systems by providing a tamper-resistant environment for generating and managing encryption and signing keys,” says Peter Galvin, vice president strategy at Thales e-Security. “Thales is working together with its customers to help drive the digital transformation across a broad range of sectors. As Italy and the rest of Europe undergo the digital transformation process, Thales is delighted to partner with Intesi Group to provide customers with a fully approved eIDAS digital signing solution for both government and enterprise – where an electronic signature must have at least the same legal validity as a handwritten signature”

Intesi Group

Intesi Group is an Italian private company that operates in the ICT industry offering specialized professional services, products with high technological content and advanced cloud solutions. Entirely self-funded, Intesi Group has been since 1998, when it was established, in steady and rapid growth. With 2015 turnover of EUR 10.0 million and more than 100 highly skilled professionals, Intesi Group is the ideal partner for those who want to integrate, in a fast and reliable way, advanced technologies. Specialized skills, established references and adherence to organizational models are the elements that distinguish Intesi Group. www.intesigroup.com

Thales e-Security

Thales e-Security + Vormetric have combined to form the leading global data protection and digital trust management company.  Together, we enable companies to compete confidently and quickly by securing data at-rest, in-motion, and in-use to effectively deliver secure and compliant solutions with the highest levels of management, speed and trust across physical, virtual, and cloud environments. By deploying our leading solutions and services, targeted attacks are thwarted and sensitive data risk exposure is reduced with the least business disruption and at the lowest life cycle cost. Thales e-Security and Vormetric are part of Thales Group. www.thales-esecurity.com.

About Thales

Thales is a global technology leader for the Aerospace, Transport, Defence and Security markets. With 62,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of €14 billion in 2015. With over 22,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design and deploy equipment, systems and services to meet the most complex security requirements. Its exceptional international footprint allows it to work closely with its customers all over the world.

Positioned as a value-added systems integrator, equipment supplier and service provider, Thales is one of Europe’s leading players in the security market. Thales solutions secure the four key domains considered vital to modern societies: government, cities, critical infrastructure and cyberspace.

Drawing on renowned cryptographic capabilities, Thales is one of the world leaders in cybersecurity products and solutions for defense, governmental bodies, critical infrastructures operators, communication, industrial and financial companies. With a presence throughout the information security chain, Thales offers a comprehensive range of services and solutions ranging from security consulting and audits, data protection, digital trust management, cybersecured sytem design, development, integration, certification and through-life management to cyber-threat intelligence, intrusion detection and security supervision with Security Operation Centres in France, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands.
www.thalesgroup.com

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Ufficio Stampa
BMP Comunicazione
info@bmpcomunicazione.it
Pietro Barrile – (+39) 320.7008732
Michela Mantegazza – (+39) 328.1225838
Francesco Petrella – (+39) 345.2731667

Contatti per la stampa Thales
Thales Media Relations Italy
Elisa Benzoni
+39 055 51561443
elisa.benzoni@thalesgroup.com

Thales Media Relations Security
Dorothée Bonneil
+33 (0)1 57 77 90 89
dorothee.bonneil@thalesgroup.com

Media Relations Thales e-Security
Liz Harris
+44 (0)7973 903648
liz.harris@thales-esecurity.com