The Internet of Things or IoT is a broad term for the billions of connected physical devices including vehicles, appliances and other electronics that can communicate and exchange data with each other. These devices are everywhere and by 2020, there are likely to be anywhere from 3 to 7 such connected devices for every living person!

With the advent of comprehensive regulatory standards for remote electronic signatures within the EU, it is now possible for international contracts and transactions to get signed without delay, saving thousands of €/£/$ in travel expenses, reducing paperwork and enabling the processing of documents more easily, securely and environmentally friendly.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is an information security standard to prevent credit card fraud and protect against numerous additional security threats & vulnerabilities.

The EU has launched a number of initiatives to realize the aim of creating a unified Digital Single Market. The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is a funding instrument that provides the primary thrust for this initiative. The CEF uses certain underlying building blocks (known as Digital Service Infrastructures) to achieve this objective of providing an interconnected and unified marketplace.

The eIDAS Regulation lays the groundwork for creating a robust digital identity framework. The idea is to provide EU citizens with a secure, robust and universal electronic identification that they can use to access private and public services anywhere within the EU.

One sector that is lapping up the new opportunities that eIDAS offers is banking. 

The CEF building blocks of the digital service infrastructure, as defined under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) cover essential components like user identification and authentication, communication, invoicing, payment and electronic service delivery. 

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is an information security standard to protect against credit card fraud and numerous additional security threats & vulnerabilities. Credit/Debit card providers, such as MasterCard and Visa etc., implement the mechanisms and security controls specified and suggested in PCI DSS.

This article discusses the main phases involved in the lifecycle of a cryptographic key, and how the operational lifetime of a key and its strength can be determined.

Through many parts of the world, including the European Union and the United States, digital signing has been adopted as a way to implement electronic signatures that are considered legally binding. This article introduces digital signatures, digital certificates and the relationship between digital signatures and PKCS #7.