WISeKey International Holding (WIHN.SW) successfully integrates 4 cybersecurity IoT companies (WISeKey SA, WISeTrust SA, VaultIC and Quovadis) into a New IoT CyberSecurity Platform company

Geneva, Zug, Switzerland –  May 9, 2017 –  WISeKey International Holding Ltd (“WISeKey” or the “Company“) (SIX: WIHN) celebrated its first year of the listing of its WIHN Class B shares on the SIX Swiss Exchange on March 31, 2016, and its  substantial achievements in several key areas during 2016. The year 2016 was a transformational year for the Company. Due to a well thought acquisition and business plan deployment, WISeKey evolved, in just one year, from a Swiss startup into a global cybersecurity/ IoT player and the only Cybersecurity/IoT platform offering an end-to-end trusted cybersecurity platform. Today’s cybersecurity trends are evolving at an overwhelming pace and information security and secure communication are  becoming one of the largest challenges facing both governments and private sector and has been identified as mega trends of the Digitalization and Internet of Things. The overall WISeKey objective to provide secured solution including hardware and software components, is viewed as visionary and a unique platform. This was achieved by a combination of factors, including the strategic decision we made to target and complete strategic acquisitions which have provided WISeKey with an unparalleled vertically integrated digital identity, security and IoT ecosystem of products and services.

Today, WISeKey offers a comprehensive and integrated trusted platform of services by combining cybersecurity, Root of Trust along with IoT, semiconductors and block chain, which we believe is the key differentiator that sets WISeKey apart from its competitors, creates substantial cross-IP and cross-selling opportunities and will be the catalyst of our growth from new technologies and client acquisitions.

2016: created a Vertically Integrated Platform FOR THE INDUSTRIAL INTERNET

In 2016, WISeKey completed the acquisition of VaultIC, the semiconductor business segment of INSIDE Secure and in early 2017 it completed the acquisition QuoVadis B.V. These two strategic acquisitions, as well as partnerships with SAP, Microsoft, MasterCard, CenturyLink and Cisco have underlined WISeKey’s strategy to become a global  leader in providing secure technologies and solutions for the mega trend IoT. In addition, the acquisition of QuoVadis has improved WISeKey’s strategic position in the Digital Certificate market. WISeKey is currently aligning and integrating all their different products and product development cycles to its platform strategy.

Through these acquisition, WISeKey has expanded its client base by adding more than 300 large cap and 3000 overall customers worldwide including Europe, the United States, and Australia.

MOVING FORWARD: 2017 MARKS THE beginning OF A NEW ERA FOR WISEKEY

 The acquisitions of VaultIC and QuoVadis will add significant revenue to WISeKey’s top line in 2017, complement its existing operations and presents new revenue opportunities.  In addition, recently announced partnerships such as the new joint ventures in high growth markets such as Argentina and India present significant opportunities for revenue growth.  Finally, WISeKey is pursuing additional joint ventures for selected jurisdictions as well as acquisitions in the European cybersecurity and Blockchain space.  These developments have paved the way for 2017 to become a year of significant corporate, operating and financial improvements for WISeKey.

Opportunities ahead

Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that global spending on cybersecurity products and services will exceed $1 trillion cumulatively over the next five years, from 2017 to 2021. In 2004, the global cybersecurity market was worth $3.5 billion – and in 2017 is expected to reach more than $120 billion. The cybersecurity market grew by roughly 35x over 13 years. While all other tech sectors are driven by reducing inefficiencies and increasing productivity, cybersecurity spending is driven by cybercrime. The unprecedented cybercriminal activity we are witnessing is generating so much cyber spending, it’s become nearly impossible for analysts to accurately track. (Cybersecurity Ventures, n.d.)

Addressing the fast growing IoT market

The ability to authenticate and remotely manage millions of networked, automated devices and equipment is becoming pervasive – from the factory floor, to the hospital operating room, to the residential home – everything, from refrigerators, watches, wearables to wine bottles, is connecting and communicating via the Internet.

The WISeKey’s IoT offering can secure IoT Edge devices that can be integrated with industry-leading platforms, e.g. SAP’s HANA, Microsoft Cloud, etc. WISeKey will continue offering chip-to-root technology (as it is the case with Bulgari Intelligent watch and Hublot watches, which WISeKey has been cooperating since 2014) thereby offering an integrated solution including chips, asymmetric digital authentication and identification as well as encryption solutions.

The IoT security landscape is still evolving even as the IoT adoption is likely to pick up. We believe early movers in this space such as WISeKey stand to gain big, since Root of Trust (“RoT”) is required for secure communication over IoT.  WISeKey is well positioned to generate operational synergies from cross-selling opportunities in the space through its expanded offerings by integrating chips, SAP’s HANA and other key technologies. WISeKey-s OISTE Root is unique among publicly trusted Roots with its affiliations with Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (“ECOSOC”) and the Non-commercial Users Stakeholders Group (NCSG), ensuring geopolitical neutrality and data sovereignty.

This is a key differentiator for the company vis-a-vis its competitors. This is especially important as the WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor, which is recognized by operating systems (OS) and IoT applications to ensure the authenticity, confidentiality and integrity of on-line transactions. We believe these features could be vital in creating significant business opportunities with various governments, international bodies, industrial companies which are wary of foreign government oversight and centralization of data on servers outside their jurisdiction.

Also, multinational corporations that need to comply with International Standards on the deployment of their IoT infrastructural are ideal candidates for WISeKey Trust Model. Amidst the threat of increasingly sophisticated data and online identity thefts, WISeKey’s robust solutions should ensure data protection for its customers including individuals, enterprises & their IoT objects and government organizations.

Unique Swiss cryptographic Root of Trust for the Internet of Things market

RoT is the basis for a global end-to-end security solution. RoT serves as a common trust anchor, which is recognized by the operating system (OS) and applications, to ensure the authenticity, confidentiality and integrity of on-line transactions. With the certificates signed by this cryptographic RoT, embedded in the device, the IoT product manufacturers can use Public Key Infrastructure (“PKI”) technologies to secure interaction among objects and between objects and people.

WISeKey is the trusted operator of the International Organization for the Security of Electronic Transaction (“OISTE”) Global Root, which is widely distributed in commonly used software. The OISTE Foundation is working with the United Nations and International Organizations. Swiss neutrality, security, and priv
acy laws allow operations without geo-political or governmental constraints. It Root of Trust is set in a military grade bunker located in the Swiss Alps.

Launched a secured Internet of Things

The solution, called WISeKeyIoT is a scalable framework, offering digital Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificates for connected devices, protected in certified tamper resistant silicon chips, as well as an outsourced or on-premises certificate management system, with device life cycle control functions and security enforcement entities. The digital PKI certificates can be signed by the publicly trusted root, owned by OISTE (https://oiste.org/) and operated by WISeKey.

IoT is a very promising new business segment for WISeKey, with an estimated 50 billion devices are expected to be connected by 2020, while world’s population is estimated to grow to 6.8 billion; thus, there will be more than 7 devices per person connected to the internet by 2020 (Cisco, n.d.). As a result, a huge and increasing amount of data will be interchanged between connected devices and back-end servers, allowing companies to provide users with new type of exciting applications, which will be designed to offer increased control over the use of resources: improve efficiency in power grids, optimize processing of information in industrial environments, provide better and higher quality healthcare services and personalized experience for shopping or leisure, among others.

This is only possible though, if the data can be trusted. The IoT business case will collapse if over time hackers get access to devices, change the way they operate, intercept and modify data, or bring down systems by executing Distributed Denial of Service attacks through the devices on a network.

It is therefore crucial to implement security features in the system from scratch. Not only in the back-end system, using the PKI technologies proposed by the framework WISeKeyIoT, but as well as in the otherwise vulnerable connected objects in the field, made secure through the tamper resistant chip technology, all part of the WISeKey framework.

About WISeKey

WISeKey is a worldwide leading Cybersecurity company. Since its foundation in 1999, WISeKey has provided specialized technologies for data protection and effective identification and authentication of people and objects to ensure secured communications and transactions without compromising trust. WISeKey runs its own Root of Trust Cybersecurity platform and identity-based data security solutions for international organizations, governments, enterprises, and consumers spanning 102 countries. In 2015 its Root of Trust based security was embedded in over 2.6 billion browsers, sensors and wearables. WISeKey also offers the industry’s trusted suite of IoT security products using the fact that authentication is becoming an increasingly important Cybersecurity IoT consideration. WISeKey, listed at the SIX Swiss Exchange, is headquartered in Geneva (Switzerland) and has a second operational hub in the U.S.

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This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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