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Staatsministerium Baden-Württemberg Selects WinMagic’s
SecureDoc™ Full-Disk Encryption to Protect All Data on Laptops
SecureDoc’s Unsurpassed Flexibility made it Simple
for Staatsministerium B-W to Integrate Full-Disk Encryption with Existing Single
Sign-On Biometric Authentication
WinMagic® Inc., the innovative leader in full-disk encryption,
today announced that its SecureDoc full-disk encryption software has been
selected by Staatsministerium Baden-Württemberg (B-W), the government body of
the Premier in the province of Baden-Württemberg (Germany) to protect all data
on its laptops. SecureDoc was selected based on the robustness and flexibility
of its highly-secure data encryption, including its unique ability to seamlessly
integrate with Staatsministerium B-W’s existing single sign-on biometric
authentication. Taking into account corporate governance regarding security,
Staatsministerium B-W recognized that the pre-boot authentication component
would be just as crucial as the actual data encryption component.
Having had previous experience with biometrics as a means of authentication,
Staatsministerium B-W understood that secure user authentication had to take
place at pre-boot time, instead of at Windows logon. Therefore, in order to
adhere to its strict security policy, the full-disk encryption solution selected
had to be able to seamlessly integrate with multi-factor user authentication via
password, smart card, and biometrics at pre-boot. Only one solution met this
critical requirement: SecureDoc.
Mr. Manfred Maier, Managing Director of StarTech Competence Center GmbH:
“WinMagic was the only disk encryption vendor that was able to meet all the
requirements. StarTech had the necessary expertise in order to integrate the
required biometrics component with SecureDoc. Our experience and our competent
service enables us to turn complex customer requirements into customizable and
easy-to-use solutions”.
WinMagic’s unparalleled experience integrating full-disk
encryption with smart cards, USB crypto tokens, PKI certificates, and biometric
devices at pre-boot, enabled it to develop a solution that met all
Staatsministerium B-W’s data security requirements in a matter of days. The
solution, which comprised of SecureDoc full-disk encryption, IBM’s JCOP41 smart
card, Precise Biometrics’ 250MC fingerprint reader, and A.E.T. Europe’s SafeSign
Precise middleware was successfully demonstrated by StarTech, WinMagic’s
Stuttgart-based certified SecureDoc reseller for the region of
Baden-Württemberg.
The need for simple system administration was met by SecureDoc’s
intuitive management GUI. Administrators were further assisted during set up by
the fact that SecureDoc does not require its own partition on the hard drive,
which also improved system efficiency by saving as much as 1GB of hard drive
space. And, as SecureDoc installs transparently in the background without
interrupting work in progress it also eliminated the user resistance
administrators usually encounter when installing an additional layer of
security.
“WinMagic met all Staatsministerium B-W’s strict encryption
requirements, and now all data on all laptops is protected by SecureDoc,”
explained Mr. Christoph Schönnenbeck, IT Manager, Staatsministerium
Baden-Württemberg. “The nature of the confidential data is very diverse and
relates to all the tasks and assignments for which Staatsministerium
Baden-Württemberg is responsible.”
SecureDoc’s unique full-disk encryption has provided
Staatsministerium B-W with unparalleled data protection that is simple to
install, integrate, and manage. This functionality includes:
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The fastest to encrypt hard drive
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Ensures maintained and sustained integrity during the
hard-drive encryption process, regardless if interrupted by power failure,
or if Windows OS conducts pre-fetch (defrag), etc.
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Supports enterprise features such as remote deployment,
remote challenge response one-time password recovery, and remote control
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Provides data recovery in case of virus infection (makes
restoring an encrypted disk as easy as an restoring unencrypted disk)
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Encrypts every portion of the hard drive – not leaving any
residual bytes unencrypted should the hard drive be partitioned
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Ensures encryption of the entire hard drive regardless of
bad sectors or whether the hard drive needs to be defragmented
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Ensures that utility functions like Ghost, and others, work
properly
SecureDoc’s flexibility also makes it possible for users to
automatically encrypt Flash Cards, SD Cards, Multimedia Cards, Micro Drives, and
other removable media. This functionality facilitates system administrators to
utilize one encryption solution for LANs, WANs, and GANs, eliminating the
administration nightmare from having to manage different security solutions for
different devices.
Believing that, “whatever you can do with an unencrypted disk, you should be
able to do with an encrypted disk by SecureDoc,” WinMagic provides disk-imaging
capabilities and full support for Windows built-in defragmentation software and
hibernation mode. Users can even resize partitions on encrypted disks, or run
repair utilities and perform data recovery on disks in case of virus infection.
WinMagic’s SecureDoc Enterprise Server edition also makes it simple to deploy
and manage encryption for hundreds of thousands of users. Remote features permit
adding, removing, or augmenting users and profiles as well as allowing password
recovery and integration with Active Directory and other LDAP servers such as
PKI, and Novell.
“An organization cannot ensure data security unless the entire drive is
encrypted, and WinMagic is proud that a security-conscious organization like
Staatsministerium B-W has selected SecureDoc to protect all data on easily lost
or stolen laptops,” said Thi Nguyen-Huu, CEO & President, WinMagic Inc. “Unlike
other encryption solutions, SecureDoc’s flexibility makes it easy to combine
multi-factor user authentication with transparent full-disk encryption at
pre-boot to ensure all data on desktops, laptops, and handheld devices is
protected.”
About Staatsministerium Baden-Württemberg
The Staatsministerium plans the policies and legislation for the province and
informs the government leader about interdepartmental coordination of the
various ministries in the province. It prepares the meetings of the cabinet,
organizes the cooperation with the provincial government, and takes care of the
Public Relations for the provincial government. Also, it represents the
provincial government in the meetings with the Prime Minister as well as with
the national assembly and the European Union. In total, around 200 employees are
active in the Staatsministerium Baden-Württemberg, which is, compared to other
provincial government agencies, very lean and efficient. The Staatsministerium’s
scope of operations also comprises matters relating to the State Constitutional
Court for the province of Baden-Württemberg as well as the Staff College of the
province of Baden-Württemberg.
About StarTech
Stuttgart-based StarTech is an expert in professional telecommunication and data
communication solutions. Founded in 1996, the company established itself as the
largest reseller of COLT Telecom in Germany. In 2001 StarTech expanded its
product portfolio and started focusing more on IT-Security solutions, resulting
in the creation of sister-company StarTech Competence Center. With products of
selected vendors StarTech now offers customized solutions for small and medium
enterprises as well as for large corporate and government customers: monitoring
and management of network users, full disk encryption, email encryption and
digital signatures, VPN and firewall solutions, including remote monitoring,
user authentication, virus and spam protection. On top of that, StarTech offers
a professional management service for the implemented solutions.
About WinMagic Inc.
WinMagic develops full-disk encryption software. WinMagic’s SecureDoc full-disk
encryption suite provides unmatched protection of data stored on desktops,
laptops, and other mobile devices by employing authentication from password to
hardware token, TPM, biometrics, and PKI commencing right at pre-boot.
WinMagic’s award-winning product suite, which consists of SecureDoc, SecureDoc
Enterprise Server, Compartmental SecureDoc, SecureDoc Mobile, and SecureDoc
Personal Edition, meets the requirements of even the most security-conscious
users by focusing on concrete policy-driven security features while still
offering unparalleled flexibility which incorporates the Unicode Standard.
Utilizing Public Key Cryptographic Standard PKCS #11 (Cryptographic Token
Interface Standard) from the ground up for extreme adaptability, the SecureDoc
line has earned an impressive list of validations including NIST Cryptographic
Module Validation, FIPS 140-2 Level 1 & 2, and is scheduled to achieve the
Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 4 (EAL-4) certification in early
2007.
Headquartered in Mississauga (Toronto), ON Canada, WinMagic operates through
direct and indirect channel support in over 43 countries. For more information
on products or services, please call +1 905 502-7000, or email
info@WinMagic.com.
SecureDoc, SecureDoc Enterprise Server, and SecureDoc Central Database are
trademarks of WinMagic, Inc. Other products mentioned herein may be trademarks
and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Press Contact:
Michael L. O’Keefe
Communication Strategies, Inc.
Telephone: (416) 760-0100
mokeeffe@communicationstrategiesinc.net
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