Smart card solutions vendor Gemplus has won EAL Level 5+ certification from the US and European Common Criteria standards body for its Java card technology-based GemXplore 'Xpresso product, opening up new possibilities for trusted services in areas such as banking, government ID and e-commerce from both wireless and wired devices.
European digital signature laws currently require EAL4, while following September 11, the US National Security Agency and Nist (National Institute of Standards and Technology) are considering basing their security specifications around Common Criteria.
"We are currently developing a mobile banking service with Banksys for the Belgian Market," states Martin Willems, technical security manager at Mobistar, Belgium. "When Gemplus told us that their SIM would reach common criteria we had increased confidence that their products would provide the level of security required for protecting financial details. GemXplore `Xpresso will give our customers the required level of trust in our services."