DuoKey is selected for the Tech4Trust acceleration program at the Swiss TrustValley

An alliance for excellence supported by multiple public, private, and academic actors, the “TRUST VALLEY” was launched on Thursday, October 8, 2020. Cantons, Confederation, academic institutions, and captains of industry, both local and international, come together to co-construct this pool of expertise and encourage the emergence of innovative projects.

“TECH4TRUST” is The Swiss acceleration program for innovative start-ups committed to fostering digital trust in our society and the economy is already in its second call for projects. The latter has just completed its call for startups and the results of this 2nd edition include 47 applications. A 32-member advisory committee will evaluate the applicants’ involvement in the program and select about 20.

 DuoKey successfully launched new Key management as a service which supports Double Key Encryption for Office 365 with MPC

In September 2020, DuoKey launched the industry’s first true cloud-native Key services that support DoubleKey encryption service for Office 365, and will roll-out incrementally the cryptographic protocols required for a practical Virtual HSM (VHSM) leveraging Multi-Party Computation (MPC) based distributed trust. DuoKey will give businesses full control over the encryption keys used by their cloud service providers without relying on any single CSP, and at SaaS

“Tech4Trust” powered by Trust Valley and PwC formed a strategic partnership to offer the unique acceleration program in digital trust in Switzerland

In this challenging context, PwC Switzerland decided to form a strategic partnership with “Tech4Trust” by Trust Valley to offer a unique acceleration programme of digital trust in Switzerland. The 5-month accelerator programme intends to energise startups in the field of digital trust and cybersecurity by offering them mentoring, fundraising support and business development help.

For several months now, the Cantons of Geneva and Vaud have been working to set up the “Trust Valley”, a joint economic promotion initiative, a platform for resilience and innovation entirely dedicated to the field of digital trust and cybersecurity aimed at positioning the Lake Geneva region as an agile, innovative and high-performance force at the service of the digital transformation. An alliance for excellence, driven by multiple actors from the public, private and academic sectors. This is why it is no surprise we are joining the force of Trust Valley.

PwC’s purpose is to build trust in society and solve important problems and in this period of crisis, it aims to support innovation in cybersecurity more than ever. Since 2018, we are running our own startup contest- the “PwC SecTech Award”, awarding the most innovative business solution in the Swiss cybersecurity field. Previous winners included Teserakt (2019) represented by Jean-Philippe Aumasson and OneVisage (2018) represented by Christophe Remillet.

In 2021, the third edition our SecTech Award will be integrated to the “Tech4Trust” accelerator programme powered by the Trust Valley. 28 selected start-ups will compete to be among the three laureates and will receive professional advice from the best PwC experts, worth CHF 60,000, to boost their business and technology.

Digital trust has become a priority and requires a revolution. We wish the Tech4Trust 2020 and selected startups a great success!

Selected startups for the Tech4Trust 2020

Bug Bounty Switzerland, Clearwater Dynamics, Cryptolex, Cyquant, Cysec, Davos Network, Decentriq, Diadem Technologies, Duokey, Edenair, Inpher, Ketl, Kimbocare, Label Cyber-safe.ch, Nym Technology, Orbitalize, Origin Food, P3KI, Pxlvision, Rumya, Sarus, Strong.Network, Ubcom, Wecan Group, X80 Security, Yeswehack, Zimt.

The first Swiss startup acceleration programme in the field of digital trust and cybersecurity supported by PwC Switzerland

Microsoft announces Double Key Encryption for Microsoft 365

Double Key Encryption (DKE) uses two keys together to access protected content. Microsoft stores one key in Microsoft Azure, and you hold the other key. You maintain full control of one of your keys using the Double Key Encryption service. You apply protection using The Azure Information Protection unified labeling client to your highly sensitive content.

Double Key Encryption supports both cloud and on-premises deployments. These deployments help to ensure that encrypted data remains opaque wherever you store the protected data.

Thales HSM Backed Double Key Encryption for Microsoft Office 365

Microsoft and Thales are further strengthening the data security options available for customers of Microsoft 365. Microsoft has announced general availability of Microsoft Information Protection’s (MIP) Double Key Encryption (DKE) for Microsoft 365, which uses two keys to protect your data—one key is in your control and a second key is stored securely in Microsoft Azure. As part of this announcement, Microsoft has partnered with Thales to manage the keys in your organization’s control by using a Thales Luna HSM, which you own, control and meets FIPS 140-2 Level 3 high assurance NIST standards. Since Microsoft can control access to only one of these keys, your protected data remains inaccessible to Microsoft, until the enterprise decides to make their key accessible. This is similar to retrieving the contents of your safe deposit box, the bank’s key and your personal key are required to open the box. The result is full control over the privacy and security of your data as accessing your data in clear-text requires both keys. In addition, you gain greater visibility because you have your own logs of key usage.