Hanover (dpa) – The technology industry is abuzz over the growth potential of e-commerce. But in the wake of the well-publicised hacker attacks that recently brought down popular Web sites such as Yahoo! and Ebay, the excitement is mingled with more than a touch of fear over security issues.
Make no mistake: data security will make or break the new Internet economy.
“Without secure solutions, e-business just won’t take off,” warns Willi Berchtold, vice president of the computer industry association BITKOM. The industry’s response: Two new technologies – chip cards as an ID for Internet access and digital signatures – designed to take make security concerns a thing of the past.
Digital signatures will be the technology of choice, says TeleTrust, an association devoted to information technology (IT) security.
Essentially, a digital signature is computer code that can be attached to an electronically transmitted message that uniquely identifies the sender. Like a written signature, the purpose of a digital signature is to guarantee that the individual sending the message really is who he or she claims to be.
The digital signature business is booming. U.S.-based VeriSign is currently a leader in the digital signature field, having lined up a series of high-profile customers, including Microsoft and branches of the United States government.
But others are getting into the digital signature business as well, including Deutsche Post in Germany, which has received a license allowing it to function as a European certification centre for digital signatures. Soon, Deutsche Post users can order a chip card containing their signature.
Many banks are looking to digital signatures in conjunction with chip cards to provide the utmost in security for online banking. In addition to password-protected access software, bank customers receive a terminal and a chip card with the necessary to use a digital signature.
Unlike with current security solutions, this new approach prevents the open transmission of data via the Internet. “This solution is definitely more secure than the PIN number approach used by many banks today,” says Internet security expert Dirk Haeger.
The digital signature has hitherto been used mainly in closed networks, in companies, for example. But according to TeleTrust, the goal must be an open system, allowing anyone to communicate with everyone. Having such a system in place will necessitate a unified organization and infrastructure with universal procedures as well as legal and regulatory support.
In the future, the easiest way to pay small sums via the Internet will be with a debit card, according to chip card manufacturer Giesecke & Devrient.
“The card is simple, cheap, easy to use, and secure,” says debit card expert Dieter Bulle. Bulle’s company recently introduced a special terminal, connected to the PC. With the terminal, when a user shops online, purchases are charged directly to the card. Replenishing the card with cash will also be possible online. The terminals are due for release later this year.
