Balancing Security and Convenience

The age of "ubiquitous computing" has arrived. People are now able to access information almost whenever they wish and wherever they are, and do not need to find a traditional desktop computer to surf the internet or edit files. Personal computing devices are now pervasive, and almost any digital device could be converted into a smart device and become an information processor.

We will ultimately see a user-centric convergence of computing, communication, consumer electronics and content, and this will become more visible in aspects of technology, standards, functionality and applications.

From a service-provider point of view, the industry is moving from an infrastructure-based business model to a service-based business model. Likewise, from a user point of view, it is moving from a device-centric computing environment to a user-centric computing environment.

As a technology provider, Watchdata has already shifted our focus from "technology" production to "lifestyle" enhancement. We, and our service-provider business partners, are now much more devoted to customer convenience. However, it is essential that this convenience also bring with it added security features.

Most of our service-provider partners, such as those in the telecom, finance and transportation sectors, need absolutely secure billing mechanisms, access control and authorization capabilities. At the same time, users need a mobile access environment that both supports these capabilities and is implicitly trustworthy to maintain the security of their transactions, privacy and identity.

Authentication and data protection therefore become crucial for the development of the entire mobile-computing, mobile-transacting growth phenomenon. It would be even better to see a more creative combination of security and multi-function capabilities, and Watchdata strives for leadership in developing these exciting new mobile payment applications.

Of course, security itself is certainly also a convenience. Unfortunately, we have already seen a great deal of security erosion in this digital society, and more hackers are being attracted to this field, so our job is not only to make this emerging digital society more convenient, but to make it doubly secure!

As it says in our corporate brochures, our vision is to provide a trustworthy computing environment for every digital interaction. Security and convenience are Watchdata´s double mission, and both are enhanced by continuous innovation and improvement.

Watchdata has developed many strategies to achieve both security and convenience. Our products are thoroughly researched and tested, use multi-factor security authentication technologies that are largely immune to viruses, carry personalized and security-related data, and perform unobserved security operations with this data. That makes the information inside our devices almost impossible to hack.

Through innovative products such as a new generation of smart cards and tokens, the data of both customers and institutions is protected through mutual-authentication processes. Our WatchKey OCL e-banking security system, for example, authenticates through both encrypted algorithms and physical confirmation. Since they lack the capacity for such physical confirmation, the hackers are effectively locked out and therefore cannot maliciously transfer money from either the bank or the customer.

All Watchdata products - SIM cards, USB tokens, EMV smart cards, or NFC mobile payment solutions - are able to provide convenient access to mobile services, such as electronic payments, secure online transaction processing, ticketing, identifying, authenticating or multimedia processing. This helps consumers create a personalized trusted computing environment, so all our products bring more convenience based on enhanced security.

New applications, such as M2M, cloud computing, public utility networking, electronic healthcare and personal recordkeeping, are now gaining momentum. The smart security industry will certainly embrace more opportunities based on these trends. The challenge will be for us to continually develop innovative new products and solutions so that we can lead the growth curve.