News
New Trust Protocol Combines Crypto with Blockchains
- By John K. Waters
- 01/24/2020
Cybersecurity and IoT company WISeKey this week announced the formation of a new independent, not-for-profit membership organization focused on establishing a new trust protocol for the Internet.
The Trust Protocol Association would create "a new global trust platform" by combining traditional cryptographic trust models with distributed blockchains.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the nascent association will "promote the use of blockchain technologies internationally, facilitate the rapid adaptation and on-boarding of blockchain-based solutions, and foster stronger collaboration between the public, private, and academic sectors," its new Web site states.
Supporters of the organization hope to develop a Global Trust Platform and an ecosystem of governmental, technology and business partners, each representing a certification node with the possibility of having multiple certifications nodes per country.
That platform would be the result of a combination of traditional cryptographic trust models with permissioned blockchain transactions through strong authentication provided by the OISTE WISeKey Root of Trust (RoT). OISTE (Organisation Internationale pour la Sécurité des Transactions Electroniques) is the 22-year-old nonprofit developer of the blockchain-based RoT technology. RoT is a set of functions behind trusted computing that serves as a common trust anchor recognized by the operating system and applications to ensure the authenticity, confidentiality and integrity of online transactions.
Geneva-based WISeKey announced the new association during its annual Cybersecurity Roundtable in Davos. The company committed to, among other things, establishing new interconnected Blockchain Centers of Excellence in China, which joined the association.
"The creation of new Blockchain Centers of Excellence and the Trust Protocol Association represent important steps to overcome a tremendous trust deficiency and foster stronger collaboration between the public, private, and academic sectors for the adoption of the latest deeptech technological blockchain standards in a safe and trusted manner," said Carlos Moreira, WISeKey's founder and CEO.
WISeKey is a leading global cybersecurity company that provides large-scale digital identity ecosystems for people and objects using blockchain, AI and IoT technologies.
About the Author
John K. Waters is the editor in chief of a number of Converge360.com sites, with a focus on high-end development, AI and future tech. He's been writing about cutting-edge technologies and culture of Silicon Valley for more than two decades, and he's written more than a dozen books. He also co-scripted the documentary film Silicon Valley: A 100 Year Renaissance, which aired on PBS. He can be reached at jwaters@converge360.com.