London: Thales today announced that the Swedish National Payment Clearing House (BGC) has chosen to implement Thales' SafeSign Authentication Server to provide digital signature verification of payments in a new, Internet based application. The new system allows digital identities issued by, amongst others, BankID and Posten, the state-owned post office, to be used to digitally sign payment instructions . Previously run over a closed dial up network, the move to the internet will provide BGC with all the advantages of an IP infrastructure. SafeSign is a critical part of this as it allows BGC to determine and authenticate the digital identities supplied by issuers approved by the Swedish State Procurement Agency (Statskontoret) that issued the payment instruction.

The SafeSign Authentication Server is at the heart of the BGC system verifying digital signatures, authenticating users and providing a strong audit trail for all transactions. BGC has also made use of SafeSign's high level of adaptability allowing it to be accessed through the existing mainframe systems. In addition, BGC chose SafeSign because of its scalability allowing it to meet increased demand in the future.

With the new IP-based system and SafeSign in place, BGC will be able to validate transactions coming from customers. This is regardless of whether the customer has a hardware or software based digital identity issued either by BankID or Telia on behalf of Posten. Together with BGC's own internal transactions, this means that the new IP-based system has to deal with messages coming from three different channels. Another key strength of SafeSign is its ability to authenticate transactions from a number of different channels using different PKI schemes.

The move to IP is an important step for BGC and it has recognised that increased electronic document exchange requires a function for validating identities and electronic signatures that can support future developments and international standards and PKIs. By implementing the SafeSign Authentication Server, BGC has put in place a security infrastructure that meets all present authentication requirements and is adaptable enough to satisfy future developments.

Mr Mathias Engan, Product Manager, of BGC, said: “We had very specific needs at BGC for validating transactions and required a robust, highly scalable and secure system to meet these requirements. SafeSign meets these requirements in a very flexible and adaptable way. In SafeSign we are confident that we have a system that not only meets our needs today, but will be able to adapt to future changes.”

Paul Meadowcroft, head of transaction security, e-security activities, Thales , said: “This is the first deployment of SafeSign authentication server as a BankID Control Server and it is a testament to the strength of the product that BGC has chosen it for their own authentication needs. As a secure, highly flexible multi-channel authentication platform, we are confident that SafeSign is unsurpassed within the industry. Our successes in Sweden, follow our initial deployment at BACS in the UK and demonstrates the dominance of this product.”

About BGC
BGC offers payment and business transaction information services as well as solutions for secure digital identification. Our products enable secure and efficient business transactions for our clients; Swedish banks, enterprises and public institutions. We continuously develop new products in order to ensure a product portfolio that meets the demands of our clients. BGC is owned by SEB, Svenska Handelsbanken, FöreningsSparbanken, Danske Bank, SkandiaBanken, Länsförsäkringar Bank, Kaupthing Bank and Nordea. BGC have over 450 employees at the Stockholm office. For more information, please visit www.bgc.se .

About Thales
Thales is an international electronics and systems group, serving defence, aerospace, services and security markets. The group employs 61,500 people worldwide and generated revenues of 10.6 billion Euros in 2003.

Operating in three main markets covering e-security, card payment and network security, Thales' e-security activities address the business, government and finance industries' need for cryptographic security products and solutions. Over half of the world's banks, together with the majority of the busiest exchanges, currently use Thales technology. For more than 20 years the company has been at the forefront of security and payment technology, co-operating and contributing to set the industry standards used for financial transactions and e- commerce globally. Thales offers a wide range of security solutions to protect Government and Defence critical information infrastructures, thereby positioning the company as a leading worldwide supplier of certified network security products.

Contact details for Thales

Claire Topping
Thales e-Security
+44 (0)1844 204156
claire.topping@thales-esecurity.com

Scott McLean
Hotwire
+44 (0) 20 7608 4643
scott.mclean@hotwirepr.com