Would it be possible to buy digital certification across the shop counter? Not right now, it appears
CAN we market a pure technology solution like an FMCG retail product and offer discounts? This looks like an interesting poser, right? And throwing this up is none other than the Head and Executive Vice-President of Advanced Technology Centre, Tata Consultancy Services, Dr M. Vidyasagar.
TCS, the software solutions and services major, is among the three digital certification authorities licensed by the Controller of Certifying Authority (CCA), Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, Government of India, to offer public key infrastructure (PKI) authentication-related digital solutions
What sparked off the poser? Dr Vidyasagar shares it with eWorld . "Recently, a big company approached us and asked us why we can't market simple Class 1 digital certification for a price of about Rs 20 per user, as against the offer price of about Rs 500." The value proposition cited was that lakhs of Web users of digital services will be attracted by the lower pricing and this will mean swift growth as also a huge client base for TCS.
But, says Dr Vidyasagar, such a proposition, though it sounds extremely attractive, is simply not on, given the technology inputs required. "We have a long way to go while addressing such a proposition to users even though this may mean mass adoption." These are early days as there are only three certification authorities authorized by the CCA, and barely about 1,000 users.
Three classes of certificates
Dr Vidyasagar explains how the digital certification TCS offers is structured. There are three classes of certificates: Class 1 useful for e-mail use only, Class 2, a novel concept for organizations willing to authenticate applicants, and Class 3 which is the highest level of authentication. Further, Class 2 has two categories — 2A only for ex-officio certificates (useful for the official purpose assigned) and 2B valid for any application.
The Class 1 certification is valid for signing documents and sending them via e-mail and the authentication is limited to verification of e-mail identity. Here there is no authentication of a person's identity and it is useful for sending and receiving encrypted documents within an organization, either spread out worldwide or otherwise.
On the other hand, Class 2 features organizations such as a bank where the organization authenticates the applicants and accepts accountability. The applicants belong to the organization, be it employees or clients as in the case of banks and stock brokers. While Class 2A certificate is restricted to official use only, Class 2B has no restrictions.
The Class 3 certification involves authentication by TCS and the applicant must necessarily meet a TCS-appointed registration Authority. This offers the highest level of authentication. All categories of certification are valid for a period of one year and the costs range from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000. However, if the solution is smart card-based or is supported by e-token, the prices vary.
The PKI architecture is Web-based, fully scalable and facilitates online real-time support in operation, and allows users to generate signature key pair securely, be it smart card or through token, says the company. Further, in a managed PKI for internal use, which is suitable for widely-dispersed organizations, this eliminates the need for a secure backbone and goes beyond the virtual private network (VPN).
According to Dr Vidyasagar, "we at TCS practice what we preach." For instance, he says, E-TCS is the company's worldwide secure TCS network that supports most (eventually all) transactions via the Web. All mails are encrypted and the access to sensitive data is only through digital signatures and directory services. The company has generated 20,000 digital certificates for its employees, he says.
The security and trust seen in the paper world need to be ensured in a paperless virtual world.
Given such a complex structure where security-related issues are involved, "we are far away from marketing digital security solutions as an FMCG product," says Dr Vidyasagar.
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