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Gemalto was an international
digital security Digital security refers to various ways of protecting a computer's internet account and files from intrusion by an outside user or a hacker. Computers and the Internet Internet security involves the protection of a computer's internet account a ...
company providing software applications, secure personal devices such as
smart cards A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...
and tokens, and
managed services Managed services is the practice of outsourcing the responsibility for maintaining, and anticipating need for, a range of processes and functions, ostensibly for the purpose of improved operations and reduced budgetary expenditures through the r ...
. It was formed in June 2006 by the merger of two companies,
Axalto {{Infobox company , name = Axalto , logo = , type = Public , founded = 2004 (IPO) , location = Paris, FranceBeijing, ChinaSingapore , key_people = Olivier Piou, CEO , products = Smart Cards , ...
and Gemplus International. Gemalto N.V.'s revenue in 2018 was €2.969 billion. The company was purchased by
Thales Group Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Paris' ...
in April 2019 and is now operating as Thales DIS (Digital Identity and Security). Gemalto was until its acquisition the world's largest manufacturer of
SIM cards A typical SIM card (mini-SIM with micro-SIM cutout) A GSM mobile phone file:Simkarte NFC SecureElement.jpg, T-Mobile nano-SIM card with NFC capabilities in the SIM tray of an iPhone 6s file:Tf sim both sides.png, A TracFone Wireless SIM card ha ...
. Thales DIS is headquartered in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
,
The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, and has subsidiaries and group companies in several countries. It has approximately 15,000 employees in 110 offices; along with 24 production sites, 47 personalization centers, and 35 R&D centers in 47 countries.


History

In June 2006, smart card providers Gemplus and Axalto merged to become Gemalto (a portmanteau of the original company names.) Axalto was a
Schlumberger Schlumberger Limited (), doing business as SLB, is an oilfield services company. Schlumberger has four principal executive offices located in Paris, Houston, London, and The Hague. Schlumberger is the world's largest offshore drilling compa ...
IPO spin-off in 2004. Between the merger and 2015, Gemalto completed a series of acquisitions: the Leigh Mardon's personalization center (Taiwan), Multos International, NamITech in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, NXP mobile services business, the mobile software solution provider O3SIS, Trusted Logic (the secure software platform provider), Serverside (personalization of bank cards with digital images generated by end users), XIRING's banking activity, Netsize (a mobile communications service and commerce enabler), Valimo Wireless, a provider in mobile authentication, the internet banking security specialist Todos AB in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, Cinterion the German specialist of
machine-to-machine Machine to machine (M2M) is direct communication between devices using any communications channel, including wired and wireless. Machine to machine communication can include industrial instrumentation, enabling a sensor or meter to communicate th ...
(M2M), SensorLogic (an M2M service delivery platform provider), Plastkart in
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
,
Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informa ...
’s mobile payment platform IPX, the information security company
SafeNet SafeNet, Inc. was an information security company based in Belcamp, Maryland, United States, which was acquired in August 2014 by the French security company Gemalto. Gemalto was, in turn, acquired by Thales Group in 2019. The former SafeNet' ...
and
Buzzinbees Buzzinbees is a privately owned company that develops software and sells it to telecommunication equipment and software vendors. It is based in Seyssinet-Pariset near Grenoble in France. It was founded in 2009 by its current CEO Jean-René Bouvier. ...
, the
automatic SIM activation Automatic may refer to: Music Bands * Automatic (band), Australian rock band * Automatic (American band), American rock band * The Automatic, a Welsh alternative rock band Albums * ''Automatic'' (Jack Bruce album), a 1983 electronic rock ...
expert.


Axalto and Schlumberger

Schlumberger Schlumberger Limited (), doing business as SLB, is an oilfield services company. Schlumberger has four principal executive offices located in Paris, Houston, London, and The Hague. Schlumberger is the world's largest offshore drilling compa ...
began its chip card activities in February 1979 when it licensed and marketed certain chip card technologies developed and patented by
Roland Moreno Roland Moreno (11 June 1945 – 29 April 2012) was an Egyptian inventor, engineer, humorist and author who was the inventor of the smart card. Moreno's smart card, or ''la carte à puce'' in French, was little known internationally. However, he b ...
, who is generally credited with the invention of the chip card. Schlumberger developed the first telephone chip cards for
France Telecom Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 elsewhere. In 2015, ...
and the Swedish telecommunications operator Telia in the early 1980s. The company developed ties with telecommunications operators in several countries, and played a role in industry-wide efforts to develop new digital mobile communication standards, particularly the
GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
transmission standard (Global System for Mobile Communication). Schlumberger designed its first SIM card in the early 1990s for the launch of GSM in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, and this led to the use of
microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...
card technology as an access and security solution for mobile telephony worldwide, in 3 billion handsets today. In the early 1980s, the French banking sector decided to migrate from the
magnetic stripe card The term digital card can refer to a physical item, such as a memory card on a camera, or, increasingly since 2017, to the digital content hosted as a virtual card or cloud card, as a digital virtual representation of a physical card. They share ...
-based payment system to a more modern and secure microprocessor card-based system. Schlumberger received its first contract in June 1981 to provide GIE Cartes Bancaires, the French credit/debit card issuers’ association, with 5,000 microprocessor cards and 200 associated POS terminals. The microprocessor card-based payment system subsequently became standard in France and eventually led to a global standard known as
EMV EMV is a payment method based on a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which can accept them. EMV stands for " Europay, Mastercard, and Visa", the three companies that created th ...
, set up by Europay, MasterCard and
Visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...
. Schlumberger experienced internal and external growth since the launch of its chip card operations in the early 1980s through the 1990s and 2000s, both in terms of revenue and product portfolio, particularly with the substantial growth in GSM-based mobile telecommunications. Acquisitions of regional companies in card production and personalization included Cowells (United Kingdom), Malco (United States), Printer (Mexico) and Cardtech (Brazil), followed by Solaic in 1996 and Bull-CP8 from Bull in 2001, in France and China. In 2003, Schlumberger created Axalto as a division to consolidate into one company all of its card and POS terminal activities, which until then had been managed by several subsidiaries and joint ventures of the Schlumberger group. Subsequently, Axalto was listed on the
Euronext Euronext N.V. (short for European New Exchange Technology) is a pan-European bourse that offers various trading and post-trade services. Traded assets include regulated equities, exchange-traded funds (ETF), warrants and certificates, bonds, ...
Paris market on May 18, 2004.


Gemplus

Founded by Marc Lassus, Daniel Le Gal, Philippe Maes, Jean-Pierre Gloton and Gilles Lisimaque, Gemplus started its operations in 1988 as a supplier of prepaid phonecards. Because of its presence in the market of the prepaid phonecards during the 1990s, the company developed ties with the telecommunications industry along with Schlumberger. Prior to 1999, the business was conducted through Gemplus S.C.A., a French limited partnership. In December 1999, Gemplus Associates, the general partner of Gemplus S.C.A., merged into Gemplus S.C.A., which became a joint stock company, Gemplus SA. In February 2000, the corporate structure was reorganized and a new holding company, Gemplus International SA, a
Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
corporation, was created. Texas Pacific Group became a shareholder of Gemplus at the time of its equity contribution in February 2000. In December 2000, the company completed an initial public offering of its capital stock, in the form of ordinary shares traded on the Eurolist of Euronext Paris, and ADSs traded on the U.S. NASDAQ exchange. In 2004, the company completed the planned reorganization of its corporate structure by transferring most of the subsidiaries of Gemplus SA to Gemplus International SA. In April 2005, Gemplus acquired Setec Oy, a company headquartered in
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
that, among other things, supplies conventional and electronic travel passports to various government agencies and products involving secure printing. In June 2006, smart card providers Axalto and Gemplus merged to become Gemalto.


Android patent lawsuit

In October 2010, Gemalto filed a lawsuit against
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
,
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
,
HTC HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...
and
Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
over the Android operating system in the Eastern District of Texas. Gemalto said that Android phones had memory-utilization features that it had first developed and patented, and accused the defendant companies of infringing three of its patents.
Ars Technica ''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...
quoted ING analysts who estimated that winning this lawsuit could potentially bring the company royalty receipts amounting to 30-50 million Euros per annum. However, in June 2014, a panel of judges in the
US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the U.S. federal cour ...
ruled in favor of the defendants that Android phones don't infringe on those patents.


Acquisition by Thales

In December 2017, Gemalto was the subject of a bid from the
Thales Group Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Paris' ...
for €4.8 billion. This was subsequently approved by the board of directors subject to international clearance. The acquisition was completed in April 2019 not before Thales had to offload the Thales General Purpose HSM unit to
Entrust Datacard Entrust Corp., formerly Entrust Datacard, provides software and hardware used to issue financial cards, e-passport production, user authentication for those looking to access secure networks or conduct financial transactions, trust certificat ...
. This was as part of the agreement with EU competition commission for the necessary regulatory clearance to the acquisition.


Structure

Gemalto N.V. is the
holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
of the Group. The Company's authorized share capital amounts to €150 million and is divided into 150 million ordinary shares, with a nominal value of €1 per share. As of October 2012, out of these 150 million shares that are authorized to be issued by the Board, 88,015,844 shares were actually issued and in circulation. Since 2006, Gemalto comprises three market-focused divisions—
Telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
s, secure transactions and
Security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...
, as well as functional organizations for marketing; operations including both production and research and development; finance; human resources and legal.


Acquisition by Thales

In April 2019,
Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...
finished their acquisition of Gemalto for €4.8bn. Gemalto will become Thales' 7th global division which will be named Digital Identity and Security (DIS).


Telecommunications

Gemalto provides software solutions,
subscriber identity module A typical SIM card (mini-SIM with micro-SIM cutout) A GSM mobile phone file:Simkarte NFC SecureElement.jpg, T-Mobile nano-SIM card with NFC capabilities in the SIM tray of an iPhone 6s file:Tf sim both sides.png, A TracFone Wireless SIM card ha ...
s (SIM) and managed services to more than 700 million subscribers in the telecommunications market. Gemalto has more than 400 mobile telecom operator customers worldwide. In 2007, Gemalto organized the telecom business into four lines—secure operated services, advanced products and data services, value-added products and service deployment, and SIM cards. Every year since 2000, Axalto and then Gemalto organized the "SIMagine" contest, the Worldwide Mobile Communication & Java Card Developers Contest, aimed at stimulating innovations using SIM-based solutions. Sponsors include
Samsung Semiconductor Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of the Samsung chaebol, ac ...
Europe and
Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...
. In 2016, following the
Buzzinbees Buzzinbees is a privately owned company that develops software and sells it to telecommunication equipment and software vendors. It is based in Seyssinet-Pariset near Grenoble in France. It was founded in 2009 by its current CEO Jean-René Bouvier. ...
acquisition, it introduced the concept of SIM reactivation whereby operators can let users reuse expired SIM cards instead of purchasing new ones when they wish to re-subscribe to that operator.


Near field communications (NFC) and mobile payment

On October 30, 2008,
Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; french: Banque royale du Canada) is a Canadian multinational financial services company and the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 17 million clients and has more than 89,000& ...
,
Visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...
and
Rogers Wireless Rogers Wireless Inc. is a Canadian wireless telephone company headquartered in Toronto, providing service nationally throughout Canada. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The company had revenues of just under $15.1 billi ...
jointly announced that they were working together on the next phase of the mobile phone payment pilot, testing wireless delivery of mobile payment software and credit card information to a customer's mobile phone. The companies announced that Gemalto would provide this capability by acting as the trusted service manager to bridge banking with mobile phones. Gemalto's role is to manage the transfer of credit card information from RBC to the secure SIM card in the Rogers Wireless NFC-enabled mobile phone. Gemalto has played the TSM role in other
NFC NFC may refer to: Psychology * Need for cognition, in psychology * Need for closure, social psychological term Sports * NFC Championship Game, the National Football Conference Championship Game * NCAA Football Championship (Philippines) * Nati ...
pilots in several countries, including France and Taiwan. In November 2007, Gemalto partnered with Taiwan's Far EasTone Telecommunications Ltd. to start Asia's first mobile contactless SIM-based NFC trial, as part of the
GSM Association The GSM Association (commonly referred to as 'the GSMA' or ''Global System for Mobile Communications'', originally ''Groupe Spécial Mobile'') is an industry organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide. More ...
’s "Pay-Buy Mobile" initiative.


Mobile signatures

In November 2008,
Turkcell Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş. (''lit. Turkcell Communication Services'') (, ) is the leading mobile phone operator of Turkey, based in Istanbul. The company has 39,3 million subscribers as of September 2021. In 2015, the company's number o ...
, a mobile operator in
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, began using Gemalto's SIM-based mobile signature solution. The solution allows the 30 million Turkcell subscribers to access services that require
strong authentication Strong authentication is a notion with several definitions. Strong (customer) authentication definitions Strong authentication is often confused with two-factor authentication (more generally known as multi-factor authentication), but strong a ...
, such as internet banking or
e-government E-government (short for electronic government) is the use of technological communications devices, such as computers and the Internet, to provide public services to citizens and other persons in a country or region. E-government offers new ...
services using their mobile phones to generate a legally binding electronic signature.


Banking & Payment

Gemalto supplies contact, hybrid, dual interface and contactless cards, EMV chip cards, payment terminals, and user authentication solutions for secure online banking. According to the Nilson report, Gemalto is the largest provider of chip cards, selling 1.5 billion chip cards, representing 49 percent of the market. At the start of 2010 in Germany 20 million ATM cards and 3.5 million credit cards were hit by an end-of-the-decade programming glitch which prevented them working. Gemalto's customers include 300 banks. Gemalto worldwide banking and retail customers include
Santander UK Santander UK plc (, ) is a British bank, wholly owned by the Spanish Santander Group. Santander UK plc manages its affairs autonomously, with its own local management team, responsible solely for its performance. Santander UK is one of the l ...
,
ABN AMRO ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizat ...
Netherlands, Aktia, Finland,
American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
, Banque Accord (France), Accord Italia (Italy), Caisse d'Épargne (France),
La Caixa La Caixa, also known as the "La Caixa" Foundation ( es, Fundación ”la Caixa”), is a not-for-profit banking foundation based in Catalonia. Originally a savings bank (''caja''), it reorganized in the 2000s and 2010s: Its commercial assets are ...
(Spain), Crédit Agricole (France), Diners Club Croatia, Findomestic Italy, Fortis Belgium.
Hansabank Hansabank was a bank operating in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania owned by the FöreningsSparbanken/ Swedbank, a Swedish bank. Following a decision taken by the Swedbank group on 15 September 2008, the Hansabank name was discontinued in 2009 w ...
Estonia,
HBOS HBOS plc was a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group, having been taken over in January 2009. It was the holding company for Bank of Scotland plc, which operated the Ba ...
UK,
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...
UK,
ING Belgium The ING Group ( nl, ING Groep) is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, wholesale bankin ...
, JCB,
LHV Pank LHV Pank (originally Lõhmus, Haavel & Viisemann) is an Estonia, Estonian banking and financial services company headquartered in Tallinn. It is a subsidiary of AS LHV Group, a public company listed on the Nasdaq Nasdaq Tallinn, Tallinn Stock ...
Estonia,
National Bank of Greece The National Bank of Greece (NBG; el, Εθνική Τράπεζα της Ελλάδος) is a global banking and financial services company with its headquarters in Athens, Greece. 85% of the company's pretax preprovision profits are derived ...
, OpBank,
Parex Bank Parex Bank was a Latvian bank founded in 1992 by Valērijs Kargins and as a privately owned full-service banking company in Riga, Latvia that was very dominant in currency exchange in the 1990s. It had local and international clients in both t ...
(Latvia), Sampo (Finland),
Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English as SocGen (), is a French-based multinational financial services company founded in 1864, registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby in La Défense. Société Générale ...
, Agip France, Arena Netherlands, BMW, B.P., Esso, Sodexo, and Total France.


EMV cards

Gemalto delivered EMV cards to numerous financial institutions worldwide. In September 2008,
Garanti Bank Garanti BBVA (legal name Türkiye Garanti Bankası A.Ş; formerly referred to as Garanti Bank in English) is a Turkish financial services company based in Turkey. 86% of Garanti's stakes are owned by the Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argent ...
in Turkey began rolling out 300,000 Gemalto EMV contactless bankcards. In April 2016, National Commercial Bank (NCB) of Saudi Arabia appointed Gemalto as its supplier for dual-interface EMV cards.


Instant Issuance

As of November 2008, Gemalto's Instant Issuance service has been installed in over 300
shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
s worldwide, enabling one million credit cards to be issued on the spot per year.


CardLikeMe

In July 2008, Gemalto began providing its CardLikeMe service to PlasticNow in Canada, giving consumers the ability to customize their card with the photo of their choice.


eBanking and eCommerce security

Following its acquisition of Swedish security firm Todos AB in April 2010, Gemalto eBanking provides a range of eBanking and
eCommerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain managemen ...
security solutions under the Ezio brand name. The Ezio Suite includes: * The Ezio Server that supports multiple authentication techniques, including
two-factor authentication Multi-factor authentication (MFA; encompassing two-factor authentication, or 2FA, along with similar terms) is an electronic authentication method in which a user is granted access to a website or application only after successfully presenting ...
,
one-time password A one-time password (OTP), also known as a one-time PIN, one-time authorization code (OTAC) or dynamic password, is a password that is valid for only one login session or transaction, on a computer system or other digital device. OTPs avoid seve ...
s, challenge–response, dynamic signatures and sign-what-you-see. * Authentication devices including smart card readers and tokens * Mobile phone authentication using SIM, apps or SMS Gemalto eBanking supports the Ezio Suite with services including implementation, security audit, design and consulting, training, fulfilment and support. Ezio technology is in use in banks such as
ABN AMRO ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizat ...
, Barclays and
Nordea Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a European financial services group operating in northern Europe and based in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The bank is the result of the successive m ...
.


Barclays

As of July 2008, more than one million Barclays customers are using Gemalto's cryptographic smart card reader, called
PINsentry 250px, A Gemalto EZIO CAP device with Barclays PINsentry styling The Chip Authentication Program (CAP) is a MasterCard initiative and technical specification for using EMV banking smartcards for authenticating users and transactions in online and ...
by Barclays for strong authentication for online banking.


FINO PayTech Limited

In June 2007, The Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd. (FINO PayTech Limited) in India began deploying Gemalto smart cards with
biometric authentication Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify in ...
. to enable microbanking and the
underbanked The underbanked is a characteristic describing people or organizations who do not (or volunteer to not) have sufficient access to mainstream financial services and products typically offered by retail banks and thus often deprived of banking servic ...
population in rural India.


Biometric cards

Starting from 2018, Gemalto introduced a range of biometric cards including fingerprint sensors. In October 2019, biometric cards, equipped with fingerprint sensors, were delivered to NatWest in the UK in a project in partnership with Mastercard. In November 2019, biometric cards, equipped with fingerprint sensors, were delivered to Cornèrcard in Switzerland in a project in partnership with Visa.


Security, public sector (e-Government)


e-Passports

Gemalto supplies
electronic passport A biometric passport (also known as an e-passport or a digital passport) is a traditional passport that has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip which contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of the pa ...
(e-passport) solutions to Australia, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, India, Italy, Latvia, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, Peru, Malaysia, United States and the United Kingdom among other countries. As of March 2007, Gemalto has provided technology to more than 10 million e-passports, making them the largest provider of e-passport solutions with an estimated 30 percent market share. In the United States, Gemalto is one of two vendors picked by the
Government Printing Office The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO; formerly the United States Government Printing Office) is an agency of the legislative branch of the United States Federal government. The office produces and distributes information ...
to supply their e-passport program in 2007. In September 2017, Gemalto announced that its biometric ePassport technology is currently being used in more than 30 different countries, including Algeria, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, France, Italy, Korea, Morocco, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden and the United States.


e-Driver’s licenses

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
’s licensing authority (ICV) used Gemalto's smart card platform to issue the first e-driver's licenses to the city of
Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...
,
Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. With a ...
, Mexico, in 2007. Gemalto expects to deliver more than 900,000 licenses to ICV over a three-year period. Gemalto secured a new contract to supply electronic card driver's license to three additional
Mexican state The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...
s in April 2008. In December 2007, Gemalto began supplying
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
with e-driver's licenses that contain a transparent window in the
polycarbonate Polycarbonates (PC) are a group of thermoplastic polymers containing carbonate groups in their chemical structures. Polycarbonates used in engineering are strong, tough materials, and some grades are optically transparent. They are easily work ...
structure, aimed at enhanced physical security. Gemalto will supply Sweden with 600,000 e-driver's licenses per year for three years.


e-ID Citizen cards

In February 2007, the Portuguese Mint and National Printing Office (INCM) picked Gemalto to provide their national e-ID Citizen Card. Gemalto provides the
operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
, the personalization system and applications, the
middleware Middleware is a type of computer software that provides services to software applications beyond those available from the operating system. It can be described as "software glue". Middleware makes it easier for software developers to implement co ...
and associated
helpdesk A help desk is a department or person that provides assistance and information usually for electronic or computer problems. In the mid-1990s, research by Iain Middleton of Robert Gordon University studied the value of an organization's help desks ...
services. All Portuguese citizens will ultimately carry these cards as their national ID document.


e-Healthcare cards

In September 2007, Gemalto delivered its 100 millionth e-healthcare card. Gemalto has delivered e-healthcare cards in Algeria, Belgium, China, Finland, France, Germany Mexico, Puerto Rico, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In July, Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse (AOK), a German health insurer, also picked Gemalto to supply and personalize 35 million e-health insurance cards. The cards contain emergency data such as
blood group A blood type (also known as a blood group) is a classification of blood, based on the presence and absence of antibodies and inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates ...
,
allergy Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derma ...
alerts and ongoing treatments, and e-prescriptions.


e-Government ID

As of December 2009, Gemalto has provided 25 million
Common Access Card The Common Access Card, also commonly referred to as the CAC is a smart card about the size of a credit card. It is the standard identification for Active Duty United States Defense personnel, to include the Selected Reserve and National Guard, ...
s to the
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
for employee and contractor use. ID cards issued by the Swedish Tax Agency since September 2017 have electronic identification provided by AB Svenska Pass, a subsidiary of Gemalto.


Transportation

Gemalto has provided
contactless payment Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smart cards, or other devices, including smartphones and other mobile devices, that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) or near-field communication (NFC, e.g. Samsun ...
technology to a nationwide transport project in the Netherlands, and citywide projects in Boston, Paris, London, São Paulo and Santiago. Gemalto has delivered more than 100 million transit cards internationally.


Security and enterprise

Gemalto supplies its enterprise services through
value-added reseller A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it (usually to end-users) as an integrated product or complete "turn-key" solution. This practice occurs commonly in the electronics or IT ...
s (VARs) and systems integrators. The company's customers include Barclays,
Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard o ...
,
Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock ...
,
Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...
,
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
, Telia Sonera, Schlumberger and
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
. In April 2008, Alternative Technology began offering Gemalto's on-demand Device Administration Service (DAS) through its network of 3,000 resellers in the United States and Canada. In April 2008, Envoy Data Corporation began offering Gemalto's on-demand Device Administration Service (DAS) through its network of IT security specialized VARs.


Pfizer

At
Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...
, 100,000 employees use Gemalto smart cards as badges.


Virchow Krause

In July 2008, Gemalto began deploying Protiva .NET Dual tokens at Virchow Krause & Company LLP (VK), the 15th largest accounting firm in the United States.


Microsoft partnership

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
employees worldwide use Gemalto .NET smart card technology embedded in their corporate badge to enable access to Microsoft's own information systems. In June 2008, Gemalto announced that Instant Badge Issuance (IBI), a solution that works directly with Microsoft
Active Directory Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems as a set of Process (computing), processes and Windows service, services. Initially, Active D ...
and
Identity Lifecycle Manager Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) is a state-based identity management software product, designed to manage users' digital identities, credentials and groupings throughout the lifecycle of their membership of an enterprise computer syste ...
(ILM) to load digital certificates directly onto the smart card. At Microsoft's "Heroes Happen Here" event in February 2008, Gemalto and Microsoft demonstrated the only .NET smart card technology with support built into Microsoft Windows Server 2008. In November 2007, Gemalto made its .NET smart card, Protiva Strong Authentication Server and related Protiva credential devices, and other Windows Smart Card Framework-compatible products available for live simulation at the Microsoft Partner Solutions Center on Microsoft Corp.’s Redmond, Washington, campus. In November 2007, Gemalto attained Gold Certified Partner status in the Microsoft Partner Program. In 2006, Gemalto organized a Microsoft-sponsored contest, SecureTheWeb, for the best new development in secure personal devices for Web services, such as smart cards and
one-time password A one-time password (OTP), also known as a one-time PIN, one-time authorization code (OTAC) or dynamic password, is a password that is valid for only one login session or transaction, on a computer system or other digital device. OTPs avoid seve ...
s (OTPs).


Citrix Systems partnership

In December 2007, Gemalto announced that its Protiva platform were recognized by Citrix Systems as compatible with the Citrix Access Gateway. This followed a previous announcement earlier in January 2007 that Gemalto’s .NET and Protiva solutions were recognized by Citrix Systems as compatible with its products. In January 2007, Gemalto was named a finalist for 2006 Solution Partner of the Year by Citrix Systems.


Verisign

In February 2007, Gemalto announced that its Network Identity Manager (NIM) for online security would support the
VeriSign Verisign Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia, United States that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the , , and gene ...
Identity Protection (VIP) Network.


Security breaches


3G/4G SIM card encryption key leak allegations

According to documents leaked by
Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and su ...
,
NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
's and
GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Unit ...
's Mobile Handset Exploitation Team infiltrated Gemalto's infrastructure to steal SIM authentication keys, allowing them to secretly monitor mobile communications. GCHQ codenamed the program " DAPINO GAMMA". The secret
GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Unit ...
document leaked by Snowden also claimed the ability to manipulate billing records to conceal their own activity and having access to authentication servers to decrypt voice calls and text messages. Snowden stated that "When the NSA and GCHQ compromised the security of potentially billions of phones (3g/4g encryption relies on the shared secret resident on the sim), they not only screwed the manufacturer, they screwed all of us, because the only way to address the security compromise is to recall and replace every SIM sold by Gemalto." The breach subsequently refueled suspicions against Gemalto chairman Alex J. Mandl, given his role in the CIA
venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
firm
In-Q-Tel In-Q-Tel (IQT), formerly Peleus and In-Q-It, is an American not-for-profit venture capital firm based in Arlington, Virginia. It invests in high-tech companies to keep the Central Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies, equipped with ...
. GCHQ and NSA declined to comment on the matter. Gemalto issued a press release on February 25, 2015 saying there were "reasonable grounds to believe that an operation by NSA and GCHQ probably happened", but denying that the government agencies gained access to any authentication keys.


Smart card weak key vulnerability

In October 2017, it was reported that Gemalto's IDPrime.NET smart cards, which are used internally by Microsoft and many other companies, were affected by the Infineon weak key vulnerability, leaving their private keys deducible to attackers.


Partnerships

Key partners of Gemalto include
Wipro Wipro Limited (formerly, Western India Palm Refined Oils Limited) is an Indian multinational corporation that provides information technology, consulting and business process services. Thierry Delaporte is serving as CEO and managing directo ...
, Prodapt, Maya, Sendum, Unique Computing Solutions, Symphony Teleca,
Bing Bing most often refers to: * Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer * Microsoft Bing, a web search engine Bing may also refer to: Food and drink * Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread * Bing (soft drink), a UK brand * Bing cherry, a varie ...
,
Kore Kore may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Kore (comics), a comic-book series by Josh Blaylock and Tim Seeley *Kore (producer), French-Algerian music producer, also part of duo Kore & Skalp *Kore (sculpture), a type of ancient Greek sculpture dep ...
,
West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
, etc. In 2017, OnKöl, a home care hub device started using Gemalto's M2M Module.


See also

*
CharlieCard The CharlieCard is a contactless smart card used for fare payment for transportation in the Boston area. It is the primary payment method for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and several regional public transport systems in ...
*
De La Rue De La Rue plc (, ) is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that designs and produces banknotes, secure polymer substrate and banknote security features (including security holograms, security threads and security printe ...
* Estonian id-card and ROCA vulnerability (Estonian Police and Border Guard Board is going to court against Gemalto)06. September 2018 08:03 (updated 12:3
Kompromissi ei leitud: PPA läheb Gemalto vastu kohtusse
/ref>06. September 2018
PPA lõpetab kompromissleppe läbirääkimised Gemalto AG’ga
/ref>27.09.2018 08.5
Police claim €152 million from ID card producer Gemalto
/ref> * Gemalto M2M


References

{{reflist, 30em Electronics companies established in 2006 Smart cards Cryptography companies Manufacturing companies based in Amsterdam Electronics companies of France Electronics companies of the Netherlands Companies formerly listed on Euronext Amsterdam 2019 mergers and acquisitions Thales Group divisions and subsidiaries Dutch companies established in 2006 2019 disestablishments in the Netherlands Electronics companies disestablished in 2019 Defunct companies of the Netherlands