Giesecke & Devrient gives Brazilian notaries greater efficiency and security

Munich, December 15, 2006–In January 2007, Brazil’s National Notaries Association (ANOREG), which has around 20,000 members throughout the country, will begin using digital signature cards supplied by Giesecke & Devrient (G&D). The cards enable data to be transmitted securely between notaries and their clients. That, in turn, makes processes, such as electronic certification of documents by a notary public, more efficient. G&D has been supplying the government agencies and private institutions with cards for the country’s public key infrastructure (PKI) since 2004. Issuance of the cards to ANOREG is set to begin in January. The contract gives G&D, with its card solutions for government authorities, a good position on the Brazilian market.

Rogério Portugal Bacellar, President of ANOREG, is very pleased with how the project is progressing. “We chose to go with G&D for two main reasons. First of all, we were convinced by the quality of their product, which offers maximum security thanks to the technological standards and materials employed. Secondly, we were won over by the expertise of their top-notch team, which supported us energetically the entire time, thus helping to execute the project quickly.

The Brazilian chamber of notaries will be using the signature cards, which also serve as ID cards, to optimize correspondence with its clients. Next, the association is planning to issue the cards to third parties, for example, its clients, corporations, or interested citizens. ANOREG will then assume the role of a trusted third party. That is, a certificate authority (CA) for official and legally binding transactions over the Internet.

As a certificate authority, its task will be to personalize the signature cards and equip them with the certificates required for the digital signature, thereby offering a secure, closed public key infrastructure.

The cards being supplied by G&D are powered by the STARCOS SPK 2.4 smart card operating system, which offers al high level of security for hardware as well as asymmetric encryption using RSA keys with a length of up to 1,024 bits. The digital signature function has received ITSEC E4 high certification and meets the most demanding security requirements.

“This project demonstrates G&D is the one partner you can count on when implementing customized card solutions. Thanks to it, we are very well positioned on the Brazilian market with government authority applications,” explains Hans Wolfgang Kunz, member of G&D’s Management Board and Group Executive for Government Solutions.

About Giesecke & Devrient

Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) is a technology leader in the field of smart cards, providing smart card based solutions for telecommunications, electronic payment, health care, ID, transportation, and IT security (PKI). G&D is also a leading producer of banknotes and security documents and is dominant in the field of currency automation. Based in Munich, Germany, the G&D group has subsidiaries and joint ventures around the world. In fiscal 2005, the Group employed some 7,500 people and generated revenue of €1.24 billion. For more information, please visit our Web site at http://www.gi-de.com.

Contact

Andrea Bockholt
Press Manager/Corporate Communications
Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, Prinzregentenstr. 159, D-81677 Munich
Tel. +49 (0) 89 4119-2422, Fax +49 (0) 89 4119-2020, Mobile: +49 (0)160-3 64 02 54
andrea.bockholt@gi-de.com
http://www.gi-de.com