Green light for Vodafone's secure mobile trial

Vodafone (UK) has announced that the UK's first secure mobile electronic signature trial will begin later this month. The ground-breaking trial, conducted with the Radiocommunications Agency (RA) (an executive agency of the DTI), will establish the electronic signature technology to underpin mobile commerce.

Mobile 'phones with in-built smartcards provide an ideal platform for the technology. In line with current EU directives, the encrypted signatures are generated through advanced, secure techniques developed by SmartTrust, Giesecke & Devrient, Secartis and GlobalSign and then built-in to mobile networks.

In the trial, 50 RA staff will complete – and electronically sign – their travel forms while out of the office using Siemens C351 digital GSM 'phones.

When prompted, they'll then enter a special PIN number to release a cryptographic signature that's far more secure than handwritten signatures.