By Boudewijn Kiljan
This year’s IT-SA conference was held in Nuremberg, Germany on October 7 – 9. It is, by far, the largest security conference in the DACH area (German-speaking countries in central Europe). In fact, this year’s conference enjoyed record-setting numbers, including 7,400 trade visitors and 385 exhibitors from 21 countries.
This year, Wave was present at both the Infinigate and Protea booths, offering product demos and general information about Wave solutions. As Wave partners that are selling Wave products in the DACH area, Infinigate and Protea staff members were able to offer extensive knowledge about the Wave solution portfolio on the exhibit floor.
A notable hot topic at this year’s conference was the recently launched Wave Virtual Smart Card 2.0 — a centrally-managed solution that uses the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for the creation and protection of user and computer identities. Wave’s Virtual Smart Card 2.0 can be used for Windows smart card logon or other certificate-based authentication solutions like VPN.
The Wave Virtual Smart Card 2.0 has several compelling features:
- Windows smart card logon: logon with a simple PIN or password and let the TPM deal with brute force attacks (especially applicable with Windows tablets).
- No external devices: the PC or tablet does not need a smart card reader and the user does not have to carry a physical smart card — the computer is the smartcard.
- Central management: Wave Virtual Smart Card 2.0 offers a central management of the Virtual Smart Card (VSC) lifecycle — no IT staff required for VSC management.
- Central PIN and password management: central recovery of forgotten passwords in a “zero knowledge” system — only the user knows his or her PIN or password.
- Support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, and for 32 and 64 bits.
Visitors who attend IT-SA are by and large security professionals who travel to the conference with the hope of gathering information about products and solutions. The majority of the attendees that I encountered were asking pointed questions about Wave Protector, Self-Encrypting Drive management, security and performance, and Wave TPM-based solutions, but most especially they wanted to know more about the new Wave Virtual Smartcard 2.0 solution. With the excitement surrounding our VSC solution coupled with the uptick in attendees, we’re certainly looking forward to IT-SA 2015.
