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| Hampshire County Council has upgraded its service to CRYPTOCard's award-winning BlackShield ID platform |
With CRYPTOCard's innovative, user-friendly authentication service, the county's teachers will be able to access education services, such as SIMS.net which holds comprehensive information on staff and pupils, easily and securely.
Hampshire, one of the largest County Councils, will initially run the service among 370 schools over the next six to twelve months and then potentially across all schools in 2011. CRYPTOCard has worked with the County Council since 2005 to provide authentication services across its head office and satellite office employees and also among county-controlled services, including the fire service. Over this time, usage has grown to 5,000 people, with the announcement forecasting significant further growth.
"Securing the data we have on our employees, teachers and students is paramount to Hampshire County Council. Our history with CRYPTOCard has proven to us that two-factor authentication not only provides this extra layer of security but that it is reliable, easy to use and cost-effective," said Simon Blake, Principal IT Consultant, Hampshire County Council. "Teachers don't have the time to go through complicated steps to access data on their students or an education service, so usability, without compromising security, was a key consideration for this roll-out."
CRYPTOCard provides two-factor authentications solutions to 25 per cent of Councils in the country |
CRYPTOCard's authentication solutions secure the digital identifies of authorised personnel, ensuring that only authenticated users can access private and sensitive data. As part of the agreement, Hampshire County Council has upgraded its service to CRYPTOCard's award-winning BlackShield ID platform. BlackShield delivers the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) of authentication in the industry, automated provisioning, reporting and management and a comprehensive self service portal. The service is designed to be user-friendly and is supported with the widest range of hardware, software, SMS, phone and grid-based on the market.
Luke Wirth, Network Designer, Hampshire County Council, added: "The success we have had with CRYPTOCard's two-factor authentication services across the County Council has reassured us of its value and that is why we are now extending this service out to schools. As part of this review, we looked to upgrade the system to CRYPTOCard's BlackShield ID authentication platform, which provides greater automation and access to a new range of tokens, which is essential for uptake and use."
CRYPTOCard provides two-factor authentications solutions, as a managed, server or cloud-based service, to 25 per cent of Councils in the country.
"Hampshire County Council has recognised the value that robust access security provides, especially as many of its employees and offices require remote access to data, which can all too easily be compromised with passwords alone," said Neil Hollister, President and CEO, CRYPTOCard. "CRYPTOCard's service is unique in that it provides robust yet flexible security at a good price point."
