Combined Offering Extends Identity and Access Management (IAM) Capabilities to Mobile Devices with Strong Multi-Factor Authentication and Smart Card Support

Good Technology and ActivIdentity Corporation, part of HID Global, today announced a strategic partnership to deliver an array of new government-strength, two-factor mobile authentication and credentialing solutions for the iOS and Android platforms. The new solutions will couple the existing government-grade security capabilities of Good for Enterprise™ and Good for Government™ with the strong authentication technology of the ActivIdentity ActivClient Mobile middleware to make it easier for Federal employees and the companies that support them to gain access to pertinent applications using their mobile device while maintaining necessary security levels set forth by their Information Assurance (IA) personnel.

“Mobile device management and authentication solutions are synergistic because they enable the distribution of credentials, which is critical for secure access to enterprise services like email,” says Mark Diodati, research vice president, Gartner.

Increasingly, enterprises and government agencies must comply with standards such as the DoD Directive 8100.2 and the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, or HSPD-12, that require strong, two-factor authentication and credentialing solutions to gain access to government networks. Until now, smartphones and tablets were not able to readily achieve this level of security, thus greatly limiting their productivity-enhancing potential.

Good Technology and ActivIdentity are working together to mobilise smart cards and the underlying secure element technology. This solution enables email and document encryption, cryptographic signing of emails and forms, and extends public key infrastructure (PKI) authentication tools to custom applications previously not allowed on highly popular mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets.

“The mobility of today’s workforce provides more accessibility from anywhere, and at, anytime, however, this creates security gaps and enterprise management challenges,” said Jerome Becquart, vice president and general manager, ActivIdentity, part of HID Global. “This partnership will enable customers to access all of their enterprise resources from anywhere in the world without compromising security.”

The strong, multi-factor authentication capabilities of the new solutions will allow employees to prove and trust identities accessing resources on their networks using existing CAC/PIV smart card technology. Employees will also be able to leverage the same certified smart card chip environment inside a Secure Element Micro SD or Embedded Secure Element chip on their mobile device loaded with a certified PIV Applet (data structure, functionality, security model).

Enterprise and Government Agencies can now leverage the same security principles that a smart card provides (e.g. Hardware Protection and Tamper Resistance) in order to provide Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (SMIME) support and the highest levels of authentication and security.  Early this year, ActivIdentity also announced a solution for storing PKI credentials on Micro SD in smart phones.

“Supporting a mobile and wireless workforce is becoming an increasingly critical, yet daunting task for many corporations and governments today,” said Michael Mahan, senior vice president of special markets, Good Technology. “We are excited to work with ActivIdentity and leverage their industry-leading identity assurance components and smart card experience to create a set of solutions that will be the new benchmark for mobile platform security, assuring customers that their networks and data are protected.”

Visit ActivIdentity to learn more about our solutions at our booth – Hall 3, Stand F002 – at the CARTES & IDentification 2011 show taking place November 15-17 in Paris, France. The first solutions featuring the new security capabilities are projected to be available in the first half of 2012.