WISeKey’s Digital Identity for People and Objects Ecosystem is Expanding Exponentially as its Semiconductor Install Base Grows to 1.6 Billion Secure Chips and Root of Trust to 5 Billion Devices

WISeKey’s Digital Identity for People and Objects Ecosystem is Expanding Exponentially as its Semiconductor Install Base Grows to 1.6 Billion Secure Chips and Root of Trust to 5 Billion Devices

For WISeKey the ability to secure, capture, package and commercialize IoT data offers a potential new monetization model

 
Geneva, Switzerland – June 10, 2020: WISeKey International Holding Ltd (“WISeKey”) (SIX: WIHN, NASDAQ: WKEY),), a leading global cybersecurity and IoT company today announced that its Digital Identity for People and Objects Ecosystem is expanding exponentially and its  Semiconductor install base grows to 1.6 billion secure chips and Root of Trust (RoT) to 5 billion devices. Currently, over 1.6 billion objects have been secured by WISeKey VaultIC and NanoSeal Chips and over 5 billion RoT are recognized by all operating systems (OS) both mobiles and computers and applications like internet browsers or email applications.

“We are proud of this strong increase of our install ecosystem and the success of the new VaultIC407 and NanoSeal IoT Microprocessor combined with the WISeID Digital Certification technology.  Recent agreements for WISeKey in this IoT sector include partnerships with market leaders such as SAP, ORACLE, Amazon, CISCO, Microsoft, IBM, Mastercard, SigFox and others to secure people and IoT devices and the derived increasing amount of sensitive data exchanged between people and devices. Data generated by our substantial ID ecosystem offers a new monetization opportunity for our company as IoT devices generate large volumes of sensor data.  For WISeKey the ability to secure, capture, package and commercialize IoT data offers a potential monetization model. Once data has been aggregated and anonymized with our digital IDs, our clients can choose to sell it raw, package insights from it or monetize it using advertising,” said Carlos Moreira, CEO of WISeKey. 

The WISeKey OISTE RoT is a set of functions in the trusted computing module that is always trusted by the computer’s operating system (OS). RoT serves as separate compute engine controlling the trusted computing platform cryptographic processor of the PC or mobile device where it is embedded. As the intelligence of devices on the edge increases, so does the attack surface.  The expanding of Internet of Things (IoT) is convenient and allows the implementation of many disruptive applications with an increased risk of cyberattacks.

The unique integration of Trust and Security solutions into an end-to-end platform ensures the authenticity, confidentiality and integrity of on-line transactions. The ever-increasing volume of trusted data being gathered and stored, enables the rise of big data and AI/machine learning, automating the process of gaining meaningful insights for customers deploying this solution.

WISekey as a cybersecurity company is uniquely positioned to protect consumers against the current data privacy abuses. The combination of RoT with blockchain generates a new Trust protocol in order to allow the blockchain to scale trusted transactions with embedded security, ensuring that each transaction submitted to the blockchain is digitally signed using keys that are trusted by the RoT and combining a vertical trust process verified by a reputable Third Trusted Party with the inherent decentralized trust provided by the blockchain.

This dual Trust Model solves one of the biggest challenges for the Internet which is to bridge the currently fragmented trust domains including existing, incompatible national RoT used by many governments. By combining RoT with blockchain, our innovative Trust protocol enables a wide range of use cases and business models that simply are not possible with using just current blockchain-based solutions.

One concrete application on the use of this new Trust protocol is WISeID which uses a Trusted Distributed Ledger Technology of Identity to store the identity of objects and people and offers connected objects the ability to identify, authenticate and verify each other with a digital certificate. During each interaction, the Blockchain of Identity verifies and validates each digital certificate to secure the interaction. To compensate the use of the platform, a micro service fee is charged through a utility token, called the WISeID token.

The IoT chips produced by WISeKey allow companies to provide users with applications designed to offer increased control over the use of resources, improve efficiency, optimize processing of information, secure autonomous vehicles and connected cars, secure medical wearable devices and improve public safety. In the United States, WISeKey’s chips secure and authenticate over 50 million routers using unique Secure Certificate based IDs and encryption (SSH) keys.  This technology is also used in closed-circuit TV (CCTV) or DVR devices and satellite antenna equipment,” said Mr.  Moreira.

Imagine an intelligent car protected by out IoT chips with a system processing authenticated data for each of the vehicle components, being able to detect if/when different parts will require service and to digitally sign all the logs required to prove that service was provided. This platform can be used in multiple industrial applications, allowing for optimized productivity across industries through predictive maintenance on equipment and machinery, creating truly smart homes with connected appliances, and providing critical communication between devices including self-driving cars and smart homes. The possibilities that IoT brings to the table are endless. WISeKey’s technology creates a platform that helps connected devices to become intelligent devices that can learn from attacks, defend themselves, and transfer this intelligence to other devices in the network.

In order to protect the Internet of Things (IoT), security needs to be embedded at the very beginning of the device microchip design, so the RoT is also embedded in connected devices, to secure the interactions among objects and between objects and business applications. The WISeKey Ecosystem install base has expanded in virtually all IoT sectors (smartcards, smart cities, drones, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, mobile phones, etc.).  WISeKey is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as VaultIC Secure Elements protect a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications detect cybersecurity attacks or predict the failure of their equipment before it happens. The IoT revenue mode is recurrent, as what gets consumed and measured on a repeating basis are not the microchips or the RoT, but the authenticated data they produce and the services that this data enables.

WISeKey’s client base has substantially increased and its geographic footprint includes high growth markets such as China and USA. In China this ecosystem is further enriched by the accreditation of the RoT, issued by 360 Secure Browser, the leading internet browser solution in China, with an estimated user base of over 400 million active users, and a market penetration close to 70%, according to CNZZ. 360 Secure Browser, developed Qihoo 360 Technology Ltd., has a strong focus on security, and combines antivirus and other features to secure internet connections.

All IoT connected devices need security, and many of them will use sensors with secure IoT chips like VaultIC. As the world becomes more connected, there will be an exponential growth of the number of sensors used to track everything including changes in the environment and the atmosphere, traffic on our roads, temperature of our homes and location of our mobile phones. Experts predict that, by 2022, 1 trillion networked sensors will be embedded in the world around us – each one requiring strong digital identity, authentication and data protection.

For more than twenty years, WISeKey has been providing a range of Common Criteria certified tamper resistant microprocessors that can be implemented on IoT devices to provide secure storage and usage of sensitive assets, and to uniquely identify, authenticate and protect devices in the field. The digital identities of these assets can be efficiently managed through a Webtrust certified Public Key Infrastructure on premises or as a cloud service.

About WISeKey

WISeKey (NASDAQ: WKEY; SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems for people and objects using Blockchain, AI and IoT respecting the Human as the Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey microprocessors secure the pervasive computing shaping today’s Internet of Everything. WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.5 billion microchips in virtually all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers, mobile phones, crypto tokens etc.).  WISeKey is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors produce a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications to predict the failure of their equipment before it happens.

Our technology is Trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey’s Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust (“RoT”) provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.

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