Allianz uses SCinterface from cryptovision company-wide

The challenge for Allianz

Allianz is one of the world’s leading insurers and financial service providers. Headquartered in Munich, the company has been operating a public key infrastructure (PKI) for years, which is used for applications such as authentication, single sign-on and data encryption.

Because Allianz places great emphasis on security, the company’s IT department decided to use smart cards to store private keys instead of the previous software-based variant. Allianz chose cryptovision’s smartcard middleware SCinterface to connect the smartcards to the applications.

The main reasons for this choice were the excellent integration support for the planned applications and a seamless migration from a previously used solution. Almost 70,000 Allianz employees now use SCinterface.

Our solution for Allianz

Alliance chose cryptovision’s smartcard middleware SCinterface to connect the smartcards used with the various applications. The reasons for this decision were mainly of a practical nature: SCinterface supports all applications used by Allianz and enables a seamless migration from the previously used solution. Almost 70,000 Allianz employees now use SCinterface. The special feature SCinterface cache, which enables secure PIN caching, has further increased employee satisfaction, as the number of PIN entries required per day has decreased significantly.

As a first step, Allianz issued cards to users who could use them to secure their workstations. In addition to the PKI, Allianz implemented a card management system. It quickly became clear, however, that working with group mailboxes and representative regulations with the cards was not possible without further ado. With the cryptovision product remoteCSP, which enables a secure online access to a private key, this challenge was mastered.

 

More references from this branch