Utimaco Encrypts E-mail Traffic for Chemical Giant BASF

Oberursel (Germany) and London (UK), January 10 2006 – Utimaco, one of the world’s leading suppliers of data security solutions, today announced that German chemical giant BASF is implementing centralized e-mail security using Utimaco’s SecurE-Mail Gateway. As a result of the migration, the BASF chemicals group – the world’s largest – can now provide central e-mail encryption, and also digital signatures, in accordance with current S/MIME and OpenPGP security standards across Europe. Utimaco SecurE-Mail Gateway both encrypts and decrypts outgoing and incoming e-mail traffic automatically and transparently for the users.

Every day, BASF generates vast quantities of confidential data which needs to be exchanged securely between managers in all company areas, as well as with business partners. This need led the chemicals company to look for an e-mail security solution that would meet its internal system requirements, guarantee maximum availability and performance, and would be easy to integrate into the existing e-mail server infrastructure.

BASF’s IT managers worked together with the consulting company Secorvo Security Consulting to evaluate several systems, finally selecting SecurE-Mail Gateway for the product’s functionality and user-friendliness. The company also wanted to work with an industry leader, giving Utimaco high marks in this regard.

With the SecurE-Mail Gateway, it was easy to ensure compliance with the BASF group’s information protection rules and consequently to implement both internal guidelines and legal regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. “Enabling our staff to communicate with others confidentially was essential, especially in our information-critical areas such as research, finance and the patents department,” said Dr. Holger Petersen, IT security specialist from BASF. “The close and effective cooperation between our service provider and Utimaco was very impressive, and ensured problem-free implementation in our existing IT infrastructure.”

“For a globally active group like BASF, with around 81,000 staff, it is imperative to have an e-mail security solution that is extremely reliable, can be implemented efficiently, and is comprehensive,” said J?¶rg Horn, gateway solutions manager at Utimaco. “The pressure from legal regulations continues to grow and grow. With SecurE-Mail Gateway, Utimaco can assure problem-free implementation of e-mail security that is handy and convenient for users and administrators alike.”

For additional information about SecurE-Mail Gateway and Utimaco’s other data security products for enterprise use, visit: www.utimaco.com/smgw

Utimaco Safeware AG

Utimaco is the leading technology manufacturer of professional IT security solutions. The security technology and solutions developed by Utimaco protect the electronic data of companies and government bodies against unauthorised access and guarantee that business processes and administrative procedures in the electronic world are binding and confidential. Utimaco Safeware’s Personal Device Security division supplies technologies and solutions for mobile security in the areas of high-level authentication including biometric techniques, encryption and integrity checks. Its products and solutions secure data in terminal server and Citrix environments, on the PC, notebook and PDA at the workplace, and on the move. Utimaco Safeware’s Transaction Security division specialises in security solutions for e-business, e-government and e-payment based on its own technologies (telecommunications management systems, hardware security modules, gateways for e-mail security, authentica
tion and digital signatures, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and PKI-enabled applications).