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Gemplus achieves breakthrough in security for Java Card™ technology
Gemplus' 64k Java Card™ technology achieves security
criteria beyond the legal requirements for digital ID.
- First Java Card™ technology to conform with
official European and US government standards and achieve the highest
level of security available on the market (Common Criteria EAL 5+)
- Building trust in e-commerce for today's consumers
- Consumer trust in secure transactions will
boost service revenues in both wired and wireless domains
Luxembourg, 19th February 2002 - Gemplus (NASDAQ: GEMP), the world's
number one provider of solutions empowered by smart cards, today announced
that its Java Card™ technology-based GemXplore 'Xpresso, is the first
to be certified Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 5+ by the Common Criteria
security standards body. This far exceeds current legal requirements.
Common Criteria is rapidly becoming standard security for sensitive data;
European digital signature laws currently require EAL4, while following
September 11, the US National Security Agency and NIST (National Institute
of Standards and Technology) are considering basing their security specifications
around Common Criteria.
By being awarded this exclusive level of smart card security, Gemplus
has once again proven its technology leadership in Java Card technology
for smart cards. This major technological step will open new possibilities
for trusted services in areas such as banking, government ID and e-commerce
from both wireless and wired devices
From a Secure Mobile Experience……
The SIM is already the preferred platform for many mobile commerce services,
such as banking, betting, stock brokering and billing. Now that GemXplore
'Xpresso has achieved this unprecedented security certification it will
become a key enabler for the growth of trusted services.
Mobile operators have long understood the SIM's key role in securing
their subscribers' mobile experience, ensuring that private data, such
as bank account details, never fall into the wrong hands. As the wireless
application market starts to take on a more open, Internet-like look,
operators look towards proven security standards. This will become increasingly
important in a 3G environment where digital rights, such as music copyright,
need to be managed.
"We are currently developing a mobile banking service with Banksys
for the Belgian Market," states Martin Willems, Technical Security
Manager at Mobistar, Belgium. "When Gemplus told us that their SIM
would reach common criteria we had increased confidence that their products
would provide the level of security required for protecting financial
details. GemXplore 'Xpresso will give our customers the required level
of trust in our services."
"This certification reconfirms the importance of Java Card technology
for security and privacy protection. Java technology has been a major
enabler for the end-to-end delivery of secure service solutions,"
said Rich Green, Vice President Java Technologies, Sun Microsystems. "We
are pleased with Gemplus' continued commitment to our Java Card platform
and their achievement as one of the first smart card companies to offer
this level of security certification to the market. This will pave the
way for even more customers to take advantage of open and secure data
services."
With secure applet download, services such as mobile banking can be delivered
safely to the end users' mobile phone whenever the operator or subscriber
wants. Once the customer subscribes to a particular service, the operator
needs to be assured that it is stored securely and doesn't interfere with
their subscriber's data or applications. EAL5+ ensures that appropriate
firewalls and download infrastructure are in place.
Subscribers worldwide will see the benefits as GemXplore 'Xpresso exists
for GSM, CDMA and 3G.
…to Identity Services
Gemplus' government and military smart card, GemXpresso Pro 64k, is
also based on Java Card technology and has the same security level as
GemXplore 'Xpresso, providing the level of security appropriate for governments
and military organizations in Europe and the United States.
Throughout a nation, state or city, a government's various departments
and agency offices need a rapid, secure and efficient way in order to
not only identify citizens and their rights, but also to offer relevant
services and benefits. As a highly secure portable identification and
communication medium, solutions incorporating GemXpresso Pro 64K are optimal
for providing both reliable, physical and logical identification of individuals,
while securing the privacy and integrity of electronic transactions.
About Gemplus
Gemplus is the world's number one provider of solutions empowered by smart
cards. Gemplus helps its clients offer an exceptional range of portable,
personalized solutions that bring security and convenience to people's lives.
These include mobile Internet access, interoperable banking facilities,
e-commerce, and a wealth of other applications. Gemplus is the only completely
dedicated, truly global player in the smart card industry, with the largest
R&D team, unrivalled experience, and an outstanding track record of
technological innovation. Gemplus trades its shares on Euronext Paris S.A.
First Market and on the Nasdaq Stock Market as GEMP in the form of ADSs.
Its revenue in 2000 was 1.205 Billion Euros. It employs 6721 people in 37
countries throughout the world.
Gemplus: Beyond smart
Contacts
Gemplus
Marielle Bricman
Global Press Relations Manager
Tel : +33 (0)4 42 36 55 96
marielle.bricman@gemplus.com
Edelman
Alicia Jones
North America Account Manager
Edelman Public Relations Worldwide
Tel: +1 323 202 1047
alicia.jones@edelman.com
Sun Microsystems
Russell Castronovo
Public Relations
Tel: +1 408 276 6039
Russ.castronovo@sun.com
Editor's Notes
*What is Common Criteria?
Common Criteria is an international certification that evaluates the security
of IT products. It originated in the European, US and Canadian banking sectors.
It has recently been adopted as an ISO standard (ISO/ISEC 15408). EAL represents
the level of confidence of an IT security product or system evaluated by
Common Criteria.
©2002 Gemplus All rights reserved. Gemplus,
the Gemplus logo, GemXpresso and GemXplore are trademarks and service marks
of Gemplus S.A. and are registered in certain countries. All other trademarks
and service marks, whether registered or not in specific countries, are
the property of their respective owners. Sun, Java and Java Card are trademarks
or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States
and other countries.
It should be noted that certain of the statements contained in this release
may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of section
27a of the securities act of 1933 and section 21e of the securities exchange
act of 1934. These statements relate to future events or our future financial
performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors including without limitation customer demand for our products, supply
of key components, developments in the market and advances in technology
that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity,
or performance to materially differ from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. For a more detailed description of these factors,
please see Gemplus' most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. These statements reflect management's current expectations regarding
future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date of
this release. We are under no duty to update or revise any of the forward-looking
statements after this date or to confirm such statements to actual results
or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated results.
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