Financial institutions take a closer look at PKI

The event, which was held over two days at the Etisalat Academy, attracted IT professionals from organisations such as RAKBank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, SHUAA Capital and the Ministry of Justice.

Titled 'Deploying PKI to enhance e-business security', the course provided a mix of theoretical and practical training sessions designed to raise virtual communication security issues and illustrate the part PKI can play in helping organisations meet these challenges. An all-encompassing technology platform consisting of software applications, encryption methods and technologies, PKI is a globally recognized, industry standard protocol to Internet security threats designed to ensure the identification and authentication of all parties involved in online transactions.

Commenting on the course, Comtrust's General Manager, Ahmad Abdulkarim Julfar, said, 'Our PKI training series continues to attract great interest from the banking and finance industry as well as the government community. Both these sectors have displayed considerable interest in strengthening their virtual security apparatus and this is something PKI technologies can substantially contribute to.

'In fact, a number of organisations represented on the course have already implemented PKI-based solutions. For them, this course provides a means to extend their knowledge base thus allowing them to further exploit the technology to the benefit of their organisation.'

The first day began with a look at the critical online security issues of confidentiality, integrity, authentication and non-repudiation of online information and an overview of encryption technologies and the instrumental role these technologies play in PKI-based solutions. Topics covered included description of different kinds of keys, digital certificates, certificate authorities as well as covering the core components of PKI.

On the second day, participants learned about PKI-based applications and services, implementing PKI solutions from both in-house and outsourced/managed perspective and the on going evolution of PKI technologies such as smart card based applications. Of particular interest to participants was were more advanced applications of PKI technologies such as PKI over smart card and authenticated access to corporate information resources.

Each day ended with an interactive, practically orientated workshop on the application, verification and use of digital certificates in the e-business world. The first day catered to user certificates while day two covered server certificates.

'I have no doubt participants left with a greater knowledge of Public Key Infrastructure and more importantly how it can be incorporated to further strengthen the security, now and in the future. The course has been designed to enable organisations to make informed decisions on how to best utilise PKI technologies to benefit their business,' concluded Julfar.