Interview with Dr. Sean Xiang Gao, Watchdata´s VP of Product & Marketing

About security:

Information security and data protection is a hot topic these days. What do you think of the current demand for information security and data protection?

G: The age of "ubiquitous computing" is coming. In the near future, people can get information and handle it in any way, whenever and wherever they are. They will not necessarily need to find a computer to surf the internet or edit files. Personal computing devices will be pervasive. Any digital device like TV, cell phone could be made smart and become an information processor.

To provide more convenience to people, high-speed network will also be pervasive and network address number (IPv6) will be unlimited. Then each person can own several IPs, which could be distributed to different devices and can be accessed easily.

In this case, we will see a user-centric convergence of computer, communication, consumer electronics and content, in the aspects of technology, standard, functionality and application.

From service provider´s point of view, it is moving from an infrastructure-based business model to a service-based business model.

From user´s point of view, it is moving from a device-centric computing environment to a user-centric computing environment. The specific applications will be more and more user-oriented.

From technology provider´s point of view, like Watchdata, our attention shall be moving from "technology" to "lifestyle". We will be devoted to people´s daily convenience.

The service providers (and operators), like in telecom, finance and transport, at least need billing mechanisms, access control and authorization capabilities to control access to the services and gain revenue.

Users need a mobile device and environment which can support the above capabilities, and which they can trust to enjoy all the services.

Authentication and data protection become crucial for the whole development. It would be even better if we could see a combination of security and multi-function capabilities. Killer applications such as mobile payment can be realized, combining telecom, transport and finance.

About convenience:

Can you tell us in detail what Watchdata has brought to people in this digital society?

G: We have seen deterioration in this digital society. In transport, Mifare1 has been fully broken. It means, in China, 140 million cardholders will have to face threats from hackers. Worst of all, more and more hackers will be attracted to this field. On the internet, "Trojan Horse" is running everywhere and RootKit is "Kid´s Play" now. BootKit is in! The whole ecosystem and business model of hacking are mature and profitable. All the facts bring out such a mission: we need to make the new lifestyle more convenient and more secure!

Convenience and security, this is also Watchdata´s core mission, as we can find in the full statement: Continuous innovation to make our lifestyles in the digital world more convenient and more secure! We can also feel the pulse from the vision: Trustworthy computing environment for every information processor.

To realize "security and convenience", Watchdata has come up with our coping strategies. We focus on a device that is personal trusted with known and predictable behavior, immune to virus and other malicious code, carries personalized and security-related data and could perform unobserved operations using the above data. That makes data inside it almost impossible to hack. Through this device, mostly a smart card or a token, the ID of the owner is authenticated and protected since there is mutual-authentication between the owner and the device. For example, through Watchdata´s OCL USB token for the online transaction, first the owner will be identified and authenticated. After the transaction, the owner is still able to press the button on the token to confirm the transaction is valid. Without the possibility of such a physical confirmation, the hackers cannot maliciously transfer money by hacking the computer anymore.

This device Watchdata promotes, either SIM card, or USB token, or ID smart card, or a NFC phone, is able to give people access to mobile electronic-payment service, secure online transaction processing, electronic ticketing, multimedia processing (video, messaging, gaming, etc) and helps them create a personalized trusted computing environment from an untrusted one. All the multi-function is supposed to bring people more convenience based on security.

Watchdata has upgraded smart cards´ role to a security guard of people´s data and a convenient platform for people to go on well with their daily life, like doing online transfer with a token, using a card when taking a bus, or tapping a phone when paying for goods.

About the trends in future:

What are for you the main trends in 2010-2015 in the smart security industry?

G:The overall economic situation is getting better against the downturn. We can predict that new technology, new modes and even new lifestyles will be developed. The world will mainly focus on modernization, urbanization, education, information and sanitation. Related technologies such as information, clean fuel, life science and medical security will grow and eventually adopted. Among them, applications including M2M, cloud computing, public utility network, healthcare and life-long medical record, are now gaining a momentum. Smart security industry will embrace more opportunities based on the trends mentioned above.