Slovenia Moving to E-Government Service Model, E-Passports with Entrust Solutions

DALLAS, Sept. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- To extend its pattern of strong economic growth, Slovenia wanted to ensure its government services -- both internally and externally -- featured the most advanced security infrastructure available. The country's government sought a method to implement a stronger security foundation that would improve effectiveness and efficiency, make government services more accessible to its citizens and stakeholders, as well as secure their progressive e-passport program. They turned to a trusted advisor, Entrust, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENTU) , who has experience in assisting organizations located in more than 30 countries around the world -- including all of the top five e-governments -- as well as a trusted local partner, S&T Slovenija.

"Our citizens and business partners want to conduct business with their government securely and efficiently, so building out a trusted environment was a critical step to underpin our growth as an e-government leader," said Dusan Kricej, Deputy Director General at the Slovenian Ministry of Public Administration. "Entrust serves as a trusted advisor to many countries that have developed successful e-government models and we wanted to partner with a security leader with that level of experience. The integration expertise of S&T Slovenija helped these projects move quickly to meet our objectives."

Based on Entrust Authority(TM) Security Manager (public key infrastructure), Slovenia's Ministry of Public Administration operates two certification authorities (CA), plus a time-stamping service for e-government applications. The Slovenian General Certification Authority (SIGEN-CA) issues qualified digital certificates for citizens, legal and natural persons, as well as employees and servers of public administration institutions. The Slovenian Governmental Certification Authority (SIGOV-CA) issues qualified digital certificates for employees and servers of public administration institutions. To facilitate further efficiency, SIGOV-CA and SIGEN-CA are cross-certified -- a certificate issued by one is recognized by the other.

As a benefit to citizens of Slovenia, this e-government environment leverages digital certificates to help provide secure applications for tax filing, driver's licenses, birth and marriage certificate requests, and change of address certifications. Improved business applications include corporate and VAT tax filing, business registration and customs declarations. The data contained in Slovenian e-passports is also digitally signed using Entrust software that is specifically designed to protect against fraud.

The infrastructure also affords the Slovenian Time Stamping Authority (SI-TSA) the ability to enable government agencies to provide reliable, verifiable methods to determine when a form or document was submitted. This capability, powered by Entrust(R) Secure Transaction Verification Server, is key in practices such as income tax filing and other e-government services.

"Slovenia has been on a fast track to build out key infrastructure to support its citizenry and private sector," said Entrust Senior Vice President, Global Solutions, Andrew Pinder. "Assisting the country with a solid security foundation helps empower them to leverage a citizen- and business-centric service model that helps both flourish."

Modular and fully integrated, the Entrust Authority public key infrastructure (PKI) portfolio is built on the foundation of Entrust Authority Security Manager, the certification authority (CA) system responsible for issuing and managing users' digital identities. Optional components can then be easily integrated to help address an organization's unique security requirements and transparently automate all security-related processes through a single PKI.

With a population of more than two million, Slovenia boasts a gross national product of approximately $44 billion. As the first of the 10 new members to join the European Union in 2004, the country also adopted the Euro as its official currency in January 2007, making it the 13th country to join the European monetary union.

About S&T Slovenija

S&T Slovenija is the leading Slovenian system integrator, majority owned by S&T, with subsidiaries in 23 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia and the United States. S&T provides a wide range of services such as consulting, education, software development, IT solution implementation and maintenance. Its customers include the largest European telecommunication, banking and energy institutions, as well as government and healthcare organizations.

S&T Slovenija employs more than 370 professionals, who, in cooperation with the leading global IT providers, are focused on delivering quality services and customer satisfaction. In 1995, S&T Slovenija was the first IT company in Slovenia to obtain the ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard certificate.

About Entrust

Entrust (NASDAQ: ENTU) secures digital identities and information for consumers, enterprises and governments in 1,650 organizations spanning 60 countries. Leveraging a layered security approach to address growing risks, Entrust solutions help secure the most common digital identity and information protection pain points in an organization. These include SSL, authentication, fraud detection, shared data protection and e-mail security. For information, call 888-690-2424, e-mail entrust@entrust.com or visit http://www.entrust.com.