Posted by SecExtra on December 15th, 2009

GrIDsure, the innovative alternative to PINs and passwords, today announced that ‘GrIDsure Enterprise’ has been awarded the CESG Claims Tested Mark (CCTM) certification. The award means that UK public sector organisations, including local authorities, NHS, education, criminal justice, police, Central Government and MoD, will now be able to recognise GrIDsure’s pattern-based authentication system when looking to replace their existing computer login methods.

The award of this certification supports the adoption of GrIDsure Enterprise (Version 3.3.30.14) by public sector agencies in complying with the Government’s Code of Connection (CoCo 4.1), the code that regulates security for all organisations connecting to the Government Secure Extranet (GCSx). In addition, GrIDsure represents a user-friendly and cost effective technology that is much more secure than a traditional password and is ideal for organisations looking for a tokenless two-factor authentication solution for remote access and home working employees.

GrIDsure’s innovative solution is based on a groundbreaking yet simple concept that allows users to login to their PC by remembering a sequential pattern on a grid. Each time the user logs in they are presented with a challenge grid containing randomly generated numbers or characters, and they authenticate themselves by entering a one-time passcode created from the numbers or characters that correspond to their personal identification pattern (PIP).

GrIDsure Enterprise is easily adopted by business users and consumers alike because it has been proven that patterns are easier to remember than passwords; it is highly secure as there are numerous pattern permutations that are almost impossible to shoulder surf, and it is very cost effective and scalable as it requires no additional hardware or software.

Stephen Howes, CEO and CTO, GrIDsure commented: “This certification is a significant step forward for GrIDsure, and we are very excited about the opportunities it will bring. As public sector organisations are now cowering beneath stringent legislation, budget cuts and disparate authentication techniques, we are confident that GrIDsure Enterprise will be seen as a ray of light for many IT, security, compliance and risk managers across the UK.

“GrIDsure is a win-win for both system administrators and end users as it is so simple to use and dramatically cuts down the number of password changes and re-sets required, with the same interface being easily deployable across multiple channels, such as laptops and mobile phones for both LAN and remote access.”

GrIDsure will be offering its Enterprise solution to the public sector in the UK through its expanding network of approved resellers and partners.