Realsec: Bleeding-edge Encryption Solutions

Modern-day businesses demand enormous data storage capabilities. Consequently, they have started to deploy extensive database systems, which are treated as critical infrastructure. And while making this investment toward better storage is essential to guarantee the “availability” of relevant data, it is only one of the factors that determine the success of businesses. To ensure information security, one needs to pay equal attention to the integrity, confidentiality, and availability—which form the CIA triad of security—of the stored data.

While companies spend an influx of time and financial resources on cybersecurity systems such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and more to do this, bad actors leave no stone unturned to break these defenses and access sensitive information.

In this scenario, encryption proves to be a feasible way to protect a client’s data assets. Nonetheless, not all encryption methods are valid and secure. In order to enhance data security, organizations should adopt a more secure encryption method based on the best tech—in other words, a certified hardware security module (HSM).

In this context, Sebastian Munoz, CEO of Realsec, believes that the best practice to keep bad actors at bay is using HSM integrated data encryption. “Even big corporate entities that employ qualified engineers struggle with cryptographic key management. Companies require specific skillsets to manage cryptographic keys effectively. However, not all organizations are resourceful enough to perform such a complicated task. To address this issue, we have developed bundled solutions that include both the HSM and various other software applications,” says Munoz. “We deliver the software applications as virtual appliances on top of the hardware security module.”

Realsec is a European technology company with an international presence that develops encryption and digital signature solutions (HSM, Digital Signature, Time Stamping, Encryption Systems, PKI Solutions, Blockchain & IoT Cybersecurity) for the banking, fintech, media, payment, government, defense, and business sectors. The company stands out from the traditional cybersecurity providers due to one factor: they provide both hardware and software solutions to protect their clients’ ultra-sensitive information.

Their HSM, Cryptosec Dekaton, has the highest international security certifications and is powered by the highest degree of support and maintenance. Regardless, it’s important to note that HSMs alone cannot do the job; they need to be integrated with the customer’s application. Every time a user uses encryption, they are also managing cryptographic keys, which, when not stored securely, leads to intrusion, which is why Realsec’s cybersecurity solutions are integrated into a single device (HW+SW+HSM) to maximize their efficacy.

Robust, Efficient, and Enterprise-Grade

Considering the requirements of highly-regulated industries like banking and payments, where PCI mandates companies to secure their electronic transactions, Realsec’s HSM is PCI certified, which means that it has passed sophisticated testing procedures that detect vulnerabilities.

For the payments sector, they have developed a payment HSM, a mandatory device that needs to be used by all banks and organizations that manage electronic payments. The company securely manages the cryptographic keys from ATMs, POSs, debit and credit cards, blockchain and cryptocurrency-based transactions, and more through a specific HSM designed for these environments.

Realsec introduces a remote key loading application that allows banks and financial institutions to remotely manage and refresh the ATMs and POS machines’ keys. The data coming from ATMs and POS machines to the issuing bank needs to be encrypted. The company makes use of hardware-based encryption through an HSM based solution that interacts with Pinoads embedded in ATMs and POS machines. In such cases, ATMs come with a master key that needs to be refreshed and changed at least once a year—which can be done remotely.

“We have a number of general-purpose security solutions aimed at government and large enterprise customers, including banks. We have a digital signature server, which is a network attached appliance that includes digital signature software application based on aFIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified HSM to manage the keys involved in the signature process. With that, we store all the keys associated with a digital certificate securely and provide means to use these certificates to design any kind of documents and files,” says Munoz. We augment the traditional e-signature with a timestamping application. With that, users can include the date and time of a specific transaction without giving an outsider a chance to manipulate by including a timestamping signature.

For customers looking for an email protection application, Realsec provides a secure way to send and receive emails by enabling users to e-sign outgoing emails. The solution prevents identity theft and fraud. Additionally, the solution allows users to encrypt emails and files attached to it, securing the internal communications within an organization.

Realsec also brings a PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) suite, a platform that allows the end-user to customize their infrastructure to generate as many certificates as needed, at no additional cost. If a customer requires many certificates, it is not practical to buy and keep renovating these certificates every year. In such cases, they provide a platform through which the user can generate as many certificates as they wish.

User Friendly and Easy To Deploy

Essentially, Realsec offers plug-and-play solutions that dramatically reduce the time required for implementation. Their delivery format has been well-accepted by the market as it makes the implementation process easier for the end-user. “Typically, our solutions require just one-third of the implementation time when compared to that of traditional platforms,” says Munoz. Besides, traditional implementation processes are cumbersome and error-prone due to the multi-vendor approach. In the traditional approach, while one supplier delivers the hardware, another delivers the software. Every time the end-user changes these environments, a whole solution becomes corrupted and fails to operate.

To prevent this, Realsec’s offerings act like a black box that the user cannot manipulate. “Our solution can surpass typical errors that occur when the user makes changes on their operating systems or databases. Since we provide the operating system, database, and software applications for deploying the solutions, the customer only needs to customize and adapt it to their specific needs without having to manipulate the core,” explains Munoz. Moreover, as users cannot make changes on the system, post-sales trouble ticketing are therefore, reduced significantly.

Needless to say, Realsec has indeed developed a tried-and-true offering, which is implemented by 100 banks globally. Instead of making huge investments in such devices, banking companies can go for Realsec’s solutions, which is an economical and efficient alternative.

The Road Ahead

Speaking from more of an industry-perspective, 2020— though mostly remembered for the pandemic—has also been the year of the acceleration of Digital Transformation. Above all, the proliferation of transactions and payments through channels such as Electronic Banking and mobile phone and less use of cash has been a challenge for Financial Institutions and Fintechs to their eagerness and commitment to protecting their operations and customers facing fraud. Given its robust nature, Realsec’s cybersecurity cryptographic solutions have gained tremendous popularity in the field of Fintechs during this year—contributing significantly to the company’s growth and turnover.

"Our solutions require just one-third of the implementation time when compared to that of traditional platforms"

Since Realsec began its internationalization process, 65 percent of the 2020’s turnover came from Latin America, with relevance in Mexico, where REALSEC has been present since 2010. Their subsidiaries in these regions join forces with the U.S. subsidiary to advance business expansion throughout the Americas. Similarly, Realsec works to strengthen its position in the Asia Pacific region (APAC) with its new subsidiary in Singapore—which was established in 2019. Also, during this exercise, the securitization platform for Blockchain environments in regulated markets and for the Internet of Things (IoT) has aroused a great interest in the markets in which the company is present, as well as the closure of the first operations, whose growth prospects for 2021, are estimated to be more than 40 percent.

“We are trying to integrate our HSMs with third party applications. At the moment, we focus our two major areas where we see new opportunities: blockchain, and IoT. We already signed a few agreements with blockchain software vendors that do not use HSMs. We foresee a huge demand in the IoT industry. In this regard, we try to secure every digital transaction that occurs through IoT devices using digital certificates,” says Munoz.

With that, the company aims to prevent hackers from gaining access to all types of transactions performed remotely using smart devices. To protect transactions performed on IoT devices, they plan to develop mini HSMs, which can be deployed with IOT devices. “We will continue to bet on the leadership of its HSM-based hardware cybersecurity solutions, to protect digital transactions and payments and drive its encryption and signature solutions, as well as the security platform for Blockchain and IoT environments for regulated markets and Internet of Things environments, continuing excellence at the level of its technical service,” concludes Munoz.