Methics Oy is a Finland-based technology company founded in 2002 specializing in mobile subscriber management and mobile authentication products. Methics provides open standard based, innovative and secure software products for mobile PKI and GSMA Mobile Connect services. The mobile PKI product offering is based on ETSI standards published 2003 and IETF PKIX standard RFC 3280 published 2002. As a pioneer in mobile signature service technologies, Methics was the first company in the world to launch a product (the Kiuru MSSP 1.0) based on these standards. Below are some of the milestones we have achieved over the last 18 years.
In 2005, TeliaSonera and DNA performed the world first successful mobile signature roaming between their mobile signature service provider (MSSP) platforms based on the Kiuru MSSP 2.0 platform developed by Methics Oy. On account of roaming, service providers and mobile subscribers can use their certificate services seamlessly between DNA’s and Sonera’s mobile networks.
All three major Finnish mobile operators – DNA, Elisa and TeliaSonera – started to offer mobile identification and mobile signature services to their users 2011, based on a jointly implemented mobile signature service roaming. Interoperability is based on open standards, which means a customer of one operator can authenticate to a service in another operator’s network. Operators commonly published statement was that “Methics helped us achieve interoperability and implement the service. End users may visit a point of sales or do self-registration using bank ids”. Methics delivered the Kiuru MSSP 4.0 platform to DNA. Major new upgrades in the 4.0 platform included new high performance integrated RFC5280 certificate validator with both CRL and OCSP support, interoperability with several other MSSP vendors and built-in registration processes and highly rigorous mobile user life-cycle management.
Similarly, Methics delivered Kiuru 4.0 MSSP platform and Alauda applet for Mobile ID service in Switzerland 2012. The solution was awarded a Special Award at the European Identity Awards 2012, for Mobile Security, for secure and easy authentication using the mobile phone with minimal impact on hardware based on ETSI Mobile Signature Standard. Swisscom launched their service 2013 for consumers and Sunrise and Salt started their services afterwards 2014 and 2018 using the Kiuru 5.0 MSSP platform. Nowadays the Mobile ID service is in use by more than half a million mobile users in Switzerland.
Morpho (now IDEMIA), a global leader in identity and security solutions, announced 2015 that its GSMA Mobile Connect-compliant solution is now available for deployment, as part of its wider Mobile ID portfolio. The service is based on Methics Kiuru 5.0 MSSP technology. Morpho has supported the GSMA Mobile Connect initiative since its inception, which will solve the issue of remembering an ever increasing number of usernames and passwords by providing a single, trusted, secure and convenient mobile phone-based authentication solution that respects online privacy.
Methics announced the Mobile ID Standard solution in Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, 2017 – a ready-made, complete and easy-to-deploy solution for Mobile Signature Services. The MIDS combines Methics’ robust Kiuru 5.0 MSSP platform and a built-in SCP80 OTA with the well proven Alauda P38 applet for SIM cards compliant with all common Java Card versions.
In 2018, Methics launched Kiuru 5.0 compliance with CAdES; PadES, and XAdES standards as defined in the eIDAS regulation which enhances and repeals the Electronic Signatures Directive 1999/93/EC. To support spreading best practices in digital signatures, Methics launched the Kiuru KDSS platform for its customers for easy cost-efficient way to sign documents.
At the end of 2019 Methics integrated smartphone offering with the Kiuru 5.0 MSSP. New offering consists of new front-end Kiuru AFE and back-end Kiuru SAM servers. Kiuru AFE communicates with the smartphone directly or via Google/Apple notification services and can be scale-up to millions of simultaneous users. Kiuru SAM is compliant with the EU’s eIDAS regulation and CEN EN 419241-2 protection profile.