A trusted digital identity

15.01.2010 | Gemalto Security to be free | Editoria: Internet 

This thriving eCommerce marketplace is underpinned by the security provided by digital signature technology, which protects both shoppers and retailers. The infrastructure of digitally encrypted signatures is well developed in Brazil – in fact, only China has more digital certificates. But the task at hand for Latin America is expanding the online marketplace beyond the borders of tech-savvy nations such as Brazil and into neighboring countries with less developed digital infrastructures, such as Argentina and Uruguay.

Mercosul – the regional trade agreement between Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay – is currently addressing this issue of a common digital marketplace.

“In Brazil, we are very developed in this field, but that’s less the case in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay,” says Mauricio Coelho, director of public key infrastructure (PKI) for Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia da Informação (ITI).

“In order to do commerce with them, we need to help them develop their technology to the same level that Brazil has already.

“Today in Paraguay, they have almost nothing – they just have a law that requires digital certificates to make electronic signatures. They don’t have a PKI yet, so it’s impossible to do new forms of business with them.”