M-commerce security finds non-mobile protection

At CTIA Wireless IT 2001 this week, Certicom (www.certicom.com) announced the launch of an m-commerce security system that is firmly planted in the non-cyber world.

“It is a secure bunker where we’re guarding people’s information on servers,” said Bill Anderson, Certicom managing director. Anderson said that in today’s mobile society, it's important for people to be able to trust each other, especially when performing transactions via wireless devices. For instance, if you read that the person you’re ordering a prescription drug from over your phone has been issued a doctor’s certificate of authority, you know you can trust the prescription.

“So, we built this bunker to give our customers an absolute assurance that they can issue these certificates and know who they are, beyond a shadow of a doubt,” Anderson said.

The physical sense of security is just as important as the electronic sense of security, he said. The bunker offers a military-level of security.

“To get into the most sensitive room, the one that is basically a concrete sarcophagus with rebar reinforcing, you have to pass through four different levels of doors,” he said.

As a person gets closer to that room, the rules become restrictive.

“At a certain point, you need to have two people from very small groups and a third person who supervises, just to get the doors to open,” he said.

The bunker also has biometric controls, motion detection and 24-hour surveillance.

“We have multiple levels of firewalls and different, hardened operating systems,” Anderson said. “So, if I wake up at night and ask myself, ‘How do I know for certain that we haven’t done the wrong thing and issued a certificate to someone who shouldn’t get one?,’ I know the answer and there isn’t any doubt. If I’m not sure, it’s the same thing as having the whole system broken because it means I can’t trust anything.”

But, doesn’t such an extreme bunker seem a little excessive?

Anderson says no.

“Our customers love it,” he said. “Their business is dependent on knowing that when they issue a certificate, it’s a good one.”

Certicom not only addresses the physical and electronic sides of security, it also looks at the human side. Every employee at the bunker has to pass a rigorous background, similar to those used to check sensitive government workers.

“When we tell our customers that, they get more confident, they relax and they start to take on some more ambitious projects knowing that they don’t have to worry about this piece of the puzzle,” Anderson said.