secunet wins PKI tender from the Norwegian Police

Secunet has been awarded with a contract in which the Norwegian Police will use secunet’s public key infrastructure as the basis to check electronic travel documents, as well as issue electronic passports and electronic residence permits in the near future.

The German IT security solutions provider successfully beat out several other multi-nationals for international tendering procedure, which will see secunet deliver its eID PKI Suite and hardware security modules, configure and install the complete system and service, and maintain it for many years.

Previously reported, secunet first introduced a policy framework for public key infrastructures with regard to electronic identity documents at Security Document World 2014.

“Norway is among the leading nations when it comes to electronic travel documents and modern border control systems,” said Dr. Rainer Baumgart, chairman of the management board of secunet. “We are delighted that the Norwegian Police have decided on the secunet eID PKI Suite, a flexible solution at the forefront of technology, for the management of the necessary certificates.”

The increasing numbers of electronic identity documents require complex background systems.

Public Key Infrastructure systems are needed to create, use and manage certificates in an effort to maintain secure and authorized access to identity documents.

For verification purposes, reading devices and identity documents make use of certificates which are managed via a PKI.

Secunet will begin implementing the project this year by creating a National Public Key Directory for the management and provision of basic information for the authentication of electronic travel documents.

The N-PKD serves as the national counterpart to the International Civil Aviation Organization, ensuring worldwide interoperability status of electronic passports.

Secunet will also deliver other components in subsequent phases, including Country Signing Certificate Authority, Country Verifying Certification Authority, Document Verifying Certification Authority and Single Point of Contact.

These various components collectively make up the back-end system for the issuing, management and checking of eIDs, with the possibility of more components added to the system at a later time.

The company is working towards completing the entire implementation of the project by the end of 2015.

Other than delivering PKI solutions, secunet will also provide additional components for border control infrastructures, including biometric middleware secunet biomiddle, the eGate solution secunet easygate for automated border crossing and client solutions for the verification of electronic identification documents at border control posts.

Meanwhile, secunet border control systems are already in use in many European countries, including Germany, Latvia, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

Article Topics

border management  |  document reader  |  eID  |  identity document  |  PKI  |  police  |  secunet  |  tender