Michael Springer, Managing Director of Pitney Bowes South Africa, addresses how companies can keep high value documents and identities safe through pbSecure™ authentication.
There is a pressing need for both government and business to ensure the credibility and authenticity of important documentation. pbSecure™ solution, an evolution of Pitney Bowes’ proven cryptographic technology, presents users with a 100% tamper-proof solution.
Pitney Bowes understands the importance of securing the authenticity of documents, said Michael Springer – Managing Director of leading mail stream and software solutions company Pitney Bowes South Africa. In response to a growing demand for complete verification of original documents and subsequent copies, we have adapted the technology used in our existing secure metering (franking) machines. The resultant pbSecure™ technology retains all the state-of-the-art security features of our metering system, together with an added software platform with a Windows interface.
At the heart of the pbSecure™ solution is a USB (universal serial bus) device and the pbSecure™ software. The hardware device, referred to as a VAULT consist of two additional USB ports and the Pitney Bowes Cryptographic Accounting Model (CAM) encrypted security chip, driven by JAVA front-end software. This software serves as a user interface for the pbSecure™ solution, document creation, authentication, verification and customised reporting. Verification can be done online via a web portal or offline via a barcode scanning solution.
According to Leon van der Merwe, Senior Consultant – Antifraud Solutions at Pitney Bowes, the resultant authenticity rejection of a document when tampering is evident, brands pbSecure™ a world first, state-of-the art anti-fraud solution. We have had extremely positive feedback from government departments and public sector agencies, the educational sector, law enforcement and legal organisations, insurance companies, the information technology (IT) sector, fraud investigators, consumers and tax payers. In addition, we have noticed an interest from employment agencies and employers who wish to verify educational and identity documents online prior to employment.
Van der Merwe said that as a Tier 1 OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), Pitney Bowes has determined that the best marketing model for pbSecure™ is through carefully selected channel partners. This decision is based on the growing demand for the product. We are currently investigating the possibility of providing a niche channel partner base of recognised ICT companies across Southern Africa. This will allow the technology to be more extensively disseminated.
Springer confirms that the creative use of technology within pbSecure™, make it an extremely attractive option for a wide market.pbSecure™ solutions are customisable to the specific need of each customer, allowing for the scalability and flexibility of the technology’s adoption by a large client base.
The benefits accruing from the technology are manifold. Compiling and securing important, original documentation at the point of origin tops the list, coupled with the ability to later verify the authenticity of the document, or copies thereof through pbSecure™ could potentially save millions of Rands in combatting fraud and counterfeiting. What separates pbSecure™ from traditional paper based security methods is in fact the specific encrypted pbSecure™ QR code that ensures the repeated integrity of any photocopies made of the original document, said Springer.
