Blockchain partnership, GSA deploys identity-monitoring tool
11 February, 2016
category: Digital ID, Financial, Government
Gemalto, Symbiont partner for blockchain
Gemalto and Symbiont, a provider of blockchain and distributed ledger technology in capital markets, announced they are working together to enable financial services organizations to securely execute smart contracts and other blockchain-based transactions.
Under the partnership, Symbiont will use Gemalto’s SafeNet Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) to protect blockchain identities and transactions, helping to prevent theft, forgery, and other types of malfeasance.
Blockchain is a new technology that enables transactions to be carried out over peer-to-peer financial networks and acts as a distributed ledger that gives transactional authority to each party. Symbiont’s platform uses blockchain to allow institutions and investors to issue, manage and trade a range of financial instruments efficiently over an encrypted peer-to-peer network.
These instruments, also known as Smart Securites, are self-enforcing, self-executing contracts that offer cost and time efficiencies compared with traditionally brokered transactions. Symbiont’s integration of Gemalto’s SafeNet HSMs ensures the highest levels of regulatory compliance and trust for cryptographic identities authorizing these transactions.
Blockchain-based smart contracts can save time and increase efficiencies in the execution of transactions, which can include anything from bond issuance to coupon payments to restrictions on trade. Once a security is issued onto the ledger powered by the Symbiont Smart Securities platform, it acts autonomously, eliminating traditionally manual mid- and back-office functions. Gemalto’s SafeNet HSMs will protect the cryptographic keys and provide encryption, decryption, authentication and digital signing services for the smart contract transactions
Gemalto’s SafeNet HSMs are dedicated cryptographic processors specifically designed for protection of the lifecycle of cryptographic keys that secures transactions, identities and applications.
GSA deploys CertiPath TrustMonitor
The GSA has tapped CertiPath’s TrustMonitor to ensure the health of its identity issuance systems, and the health of the other participants in the federal trust fabric.
TrustMonitor provides continuous monitoring of a trust network by:
- Analyzing content and constraints for validity of credentials
- Monitoring that certificate authorities are available to support validation
- Monitoring certificate authorities, SSL certificates and end-entity credentials from one interface
- Easily scaling to incorporate new certificate authorities
“For the first time, we have real-time situational awareness of the Federal PKI Trust Community and an alert system that allows us to react to potential failures before they occur,” says Chi Hickey, director of Testing and Procurement, Identity Assurance and Trusted Access Division in the Office of Government Wide Policy at the GSA.
The federal trust fabric is used to verify business critical components are authentic, reliable, and available, whether they are hosted internally or belong to an external member of the trust community. TrustMonitor provides the organization with access to both real-time and historic trend information going back a number of years.
