Thales, leader in information systems and communications security and a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, announces the industry's first hardware solution to enable time stamps for electronic document security in Microsoft Office Professional 2010. Thales Time Stamp Server appliance, part of the nCipher product line, is a networkattached, turnkey appliance that combines the ability to act as a tamperresistant source of trusted time with a high speed and equally secure digital signing engine. This enables organizations to sign documents or other electronic files such as application software in a standardsbased way, enabling verification long after the original signing certificate and credentials have expired or been revoked.
Utilizing the new Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFC 3161 interface in Office Professional 2010, Thales Time Stamp Server provides government agencies and private sector enterprises with a secure, costeffective solution for moving workflows and archiving from paper to electronic documents without first having to convert Office documents from their native formats.
"Our new time stamping feature allows customers to continue to rely on the digital signing capabilities of Microsoft Office Professional 2010 to ensure the longterm validity of documents," said Giovanni Mezgec, General Manager, for Office at Microsoft Corp. "It is important that leading providers of timestamping solutions support this functionality so customers can securely move to electronicbased documentation processes and benefit from huge cost savings. Thales Time Stamp Server is a technology that aligns with our goal of providing costeffective, easytouse, highly secure methods for ensuring the authenticity of all Microsoft Office documents."
Unlike softwarebased systems, in which administrators can easily manipulate time, Time Stamp Server keeps accurate time that can be synchronized to external trusted sources and protects time stamping keys within a secure hardwarebased security environment validated to FIPS 140-2 Level 3 and Common Criteria EAL 4+. The newly announced Time Stamp Server version 5.0 also offers support for 4,096bit RSA keys.
"The use of digital signatures supported by a time stamp greatly enhances the authenticity and integrity of electronic documents. We applaud Microsoft for introducing time stamping interfaces to Microsoft Office Professional 2010 to enable customers to ensure the longterm validity of electronically signed documents," says Franck Greverie, Vice President, Managing Director for the information systems security activities of Thales. "Microsoft's selection of Time Stamp Server as one of the first hardware solutions to support this new feature clearly illustrates the leadership role Thales has established in this space, and we look forward to working with Microsoft as it continues to help customers take advantage of these added security features."
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The Information Technology Security activities of Thales
Thales is a leading global provider of data encryption solutions to the financial services, high technology manufacturing, government and technology sectors. With a 40year track record of protecting corporate and government information, Thales solutions are used by four of the five largest energy and aerospace companies, 22 NATO countries, and they secure more than 70 percent of worldwide payment transactions. Thales e-Security has offices in France, Hong Kong, Norway, United States and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.thalesgroup.com/iss.
Utilizing the new Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFC 3161 interface in Office Professional 2010, Thales Time Stamp Server provides government agencies and private sector enterprises with a secure, costeffective solution for moving workflows and archiving from paper to electronic documents without first having to convert Office documents from their native formats.
"Our new time stamping feature allows customers to continue to rely on the digital signing capabilities of Microsoft Office Professional 2010 to ensure the longterm validity of documents," said Giovanni Mezgec, General Manager, for Office at Microsoft Corp. "It is important that leading providers of timestamping solutions support this functionality so customers can securely move to electronicbased documentation processes and benefit from huge cost savings. Thales Time Stamp Server is a technology that aligns with our goal of providing costeffective, easytouse, highly secure methods for ensuring the authenticity of all Microsoft Office documents."
Unlike softwarebased systems, in which administrators can easily manipulate time, Time Stamp Server keeps accurate time that can be synchronized to external trusted sources and protects time stamping keys within a secure hardwarebased security environment validated to FIPS 140-2 Level 3 and Common Criteria EAL 4+. The newly announced Time Stamp Server version 5.0 also offers support for 4,096bit RSA keys.
"The use of digital signatures supported by a time stamp greatly enhances the authenticity and integrity of electronic documents. We applaud Microsoft for introducing time stamping interfaces to Microsoft Office Professional 2010 to enable customers to ensure the longterm validity of electronically signed documents," says Franck Greverie, Vice President, Managing Director for the information systems security activities of Thales. "Microsoft's selection of Time Stamp Server as one of the first hardware solutions to support this new feature clearly illustrates the leadership role Thales has established in this space, and we look forward to working with Microsoft as it continues to help customers take advantage of these added security features."
Visit our digital media centre www.keymanagementinsights.com for industry issues and comment.
The Information Technology Security activities of Thales
Thales is a leading global provider of data encryption solutions to the financial services, high technology manufacturing, government and technology sectors. With a 40year track record of protecting corporate and government information, Thales solutions are used by four of the five largest energy and aerospace companies, 22 NATO countries, and they secure more than 70 percent of worldwide payment transactions. Thales e-Security has offices in France, Hong Kong, Norway, United States and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.thalesgroup.com/iss.
