On September 23rd, 2021, ‘Authenticate Virtual Summit: The imperative for strong authentication for government services’ by FIDO Alliance has taken place with the participants of FIDO’s clients, partners as well as people who showed interest from all over the world.

Within the framework of this event, MK Group has joined with FIDO Alliance as a supporting sponsor for the event. MK Group owns and manufactures two FIDO-compliant security authentication keys including FIDO® KeyPass S1 security key that meets FIDO U2F standard/supports FIDO2 standard – this is the first Vietnamese security token to meet FIDO standards on 08/08/2018; and FIDO® KeyPass S2 security token that meets FIDO2 standards.

During this event, experts from all around world such as from U.K. National Health Service (NHS), as well as the U.S. Government’s login.gov and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have stated how strong authentication helps to enable government services and new efforts to secure online identities and also provided detailed insights into the present and future of online authentication and digital identities. Here are some highlights from the events.

During the virtual event, experts also commented that password credential stuffing attacks are becoming very common and that is when strong authentication based on FIDO Alliance standards play a strong role. Having understood the situation, many agencies in the U.S use Common Access Card (CAC)/Personal Identity Verification (PIV) credentials that go beyond basic passwords.

At this event, MK Group’s security keys have received attention from FIDO Alliance’s partners and potential customers from all around the world. Using MK Group’s devices, organizations, businesses and people can avoid any act of fraud or stolen information acts such as skimming, phishing, as well as man-in-the-middle (man-in-the-middle attack).

On June 17th, 2021, the event ‘Authenticate Virtual Summit: Focus on Europe’ was held by FIDO Alliance with the participation of people from all around the world.

The matter of Increasing security and protecting consumer privacy by different means of digital authentication is growing at a very rapid pace in the European Union (EU) region due to the introduction of new regulations related to security issues in this area. During the event, experts on the authentication market in Europe provided insight into the latest developments including PSD2 SCA (Payment Services Directive Strong Customer Authentication), delegated authentication, eIDAS (electronic IDentification, Authentication and trust Services) and the EU Digital Wallet.

The Summit placed an emphasis on Europe’s new PSD2, which has a Strong Customer Authentication requirement that forces merchants to authenticate customers during the payment process. Despite the fact that the rule has improved security, it has also added friction, since merchants essentially have to complete an authentication process twice in order to complete a transaction. In terms of that, Nok Nok Products VP Rolf Lindemann and Mastercard Product Development VP Jonathan Grossar both argued that FIDO authentication can help remove some of that friction and streamline the e-payments process.

Other sessions of the Summit addressed Europe’s eIDAS standard and the European Commission’s growing interest in a Digital Wallet. The eIDAS scheme is intended to promote interoperability, so that identity solutions in one country belongs to EU region can still be valid in other countries within the EU region. The Digital Wallet could help fulfill that since it would allow people to link their identity to a trusted digital credential that could be used for a wide range of applications.

According to Steve Pannifer, COO of Consult Hyperion, digital identity consists of three things: identification, authentication and authorization. At the moment, FIDO’s products can fully capable of satisfying these three factors. FIDO has shown that products using FIDO technology can help enable convenient and safe in-person identification as well as online identification.

As a member of FIDO Alliance, MK Group participated in the event ‘Authenticate Virtual Summit: Focus on Europe’ as event sponsor. At the event, MK Group’s security key devices (tokens) have received much attention from potential customers as well as FIDO Alliance partners from around the world. Until now, FIDO® KeyPass S1 and FIDO® KeyPass S3 token products manufactured by MK Group have respectively received FIDO U2F and FIDO 2 certificates from FIDO Alliance in 2018 and 2020. With MK Group’s products, organizations, enterprises and people can fight against acts of fraud, stealing account access information on the internet such as skimming (stealing account information), phishing (scamming by email or fake sites) as well as man-in-the-middle.

On August 12, 2021, within the framework of the “Financial Technology Innovation Awards 2021” organized by The Asian Banker, Military Commercial Join Stock Bank (MB), MK Group (Vietnam) and Entrust (USA) were honored to receive The Asian Banker Award for the category of “Best Branch Digitisation in Vietnam” Enhancing customer experience with financial card instant issuance through automated banking model – MB SmartBank, the digital transformation journey of MB continues to impress the evaluation board of The Asian Banker.

With the advice and cooperation of MK Group Joint Stock Company (MK Group – Vietnam) and Entrust Corporation (USA), MB has successfully deployed an instant card solution for 30 MB SmartBank systems nationwide. MB has successfully connected digital application MBBank with the MB SmartBank system, providing customers with seamless O2O transactions (Online to Offline and vice versa).

This feature, according to The Asian Banker, is one of the most outstanding features of the MB SmartBank model.

Mr. Angus McDougall, Regional Vice President – Entrust Asia-Pacific, also shared his view: “Entrust has so far implemented hundreds of instant card issuance programs for many banks and financial institutions worldwide. MB Bank is one of the few banks that has combined and synchronized O2O transactions (Online to Offline and vice versa), seamlessly combining the transactions on mobile banking application with transactions on MB Smart Bank’s self-service system. This is really an innovation which is very suitable for the banking digital transformation trend worldwide and significantly improve customer experiences, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Ms. Phan Thi Quynh Hoa, CEO of MK Group shared her view: ” With more than 22 years of experience in building and implementing millions of domestic and international secure authentication and banking card schemes, with a team of dedicated, experienced experts and engineers, modern infrastructure and high capacity in supporting that can fully meet the above requirements, MK Group and its partner – Entrust have been selected to deploy a distributed card issuance solution for MB.”

Entrust and MK Group – a long-term partner of Entrust in Vietnam have quickly and successfully deployed the Entrust instant issuance card software for MB. These companies are equipped with rich experiences and resources to consult, develop, install, integrate, deploy and support the operation of backend and frontend systems, including training and operational support.

Putting MB SmartBank – the automated banking model into practices, MB has been completing its digital ecosystem, providing its customers with digital banking experience, leading the digital transformation in the banking industry.

Financial Technology Innovation Awards is organized by The Asian Banker annually to recognize the most outstanding technological innovation solutions in the banking sector. The award attracts more than 150 entries presenting many innovative solutions, clearly demonstrating the significant benefits that technology can bring in the banking and finance industry every year.

On June 22nd, 2021, Vietnam’s Prime Minister – Pham Minh Chinh has attended the sum-up conference to review the two major projects: The national population database project and The project on production, issuance and management of Citizen Identity Cards.

The conference was attended by Minister of Public Security Senior Lieutenant General To Lam, Minister and Chairman of the Government Office Tran Van Son, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, and Minister of Planning and Investment. Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra, Chairman of City People’s Committee Hanoi Chu Ngoc Anh and leaders of ministries, departments, branches and central authorities.

At the conference, on behalf of the Party and the Government, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has praised the efforts of different departments of Ministry of Public Security, individuals and technology companies for successful deployment of these 02 projects.

Chairman of MK Group – Mr. Nguyen Trong Khang was honored to receive commendation from the Prime Minister for outstanding contribution for The project on production, issuance and management of Citizen Identity Cards.

Having fully understood the importance of the two major projects, Mr. Nguyen Trong Khang and his team at MK Group have actively utilized their knowledge and experiences, infrastructures, partnership,… to implement the project of producing and personalizing 50m Citizen’s Identity Cards. Notably, Mr. Nguyen Trong Khang also plays an important role of connecting with suppliers of machinery and materials for production and personalization of ID cards to ensure the project progress. Additionally, MK Group and MK Smart have also actively cooperated with the Police Department for Administrative Management of Social Order, the Ministry of Public Security and other members of the project to meet the project timelines.

The commendation from the Prime Minister is a timely recognition and encouragement for MK Group’s efforts in the implementation of The project on production, issuance and management of Citizen Identity Cards./.

On June 20th, 2021 in Hanoi, Police Department on Administrative Management of Social Order (PDAMSO), Ministry of Public Security held the Ceremony to announce the decision to establish Research and Application Center for Residents Data (RAR) and Signing Ceremony of Strategic Cooperation. RAR is a public unit belonging to National Population Data Center, PDAMSO and Ministry of Public Security. MK Group Joint Stock Company (MK Group), as a Strategic Partner, attended the ceremony and signed a memorandum of understanding with RAR.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Vinh – Director RAR said that the RAR has formed the development strategy of unit C06, including: research and application of new technologies in population management; diversification of statistical products, data analysis; focus on developing products to serve the need of the Government and citizens. In addition to that, the Center also cooperates with businesses to provide products including: ID card consultation in terms of security control, fingerprint acquisition device, chip reading device, some statistical data analysis results… serving socio-economic development; complete and supply products such as biometric authentication devices, mobile verification applications… for the fields of finance and banking…; focus on coordination, research, investment in development of digital identities, electronic authentication and digital signatures…

MK Group is proud to become a strategic partner of RAR. With a solid information technology foundation and more than 22 years of experience in building and deploying many smart card programs, ID cards, and security authentication solutions domestically and internationally, MK Group is currently the leading supplier of smart cards and ID cards as well card solutions. Moreover, MK Group also brings high-tech security and management solutions, focusing on research and development of management solution products to serve the process of building e-government.

Immediately after announcing the establishment decision, RAR has signed cooperation documents with its strategic partners and customers, including MK Group. MK Group will provide solutions based on the national database of population, biometric data of ID card, as well as continue to accompany and cooperate effectively with RAR to serve the government, enterprises and citizens, contributing to the development of digital government, digital economy and digital society on the basis of digital citizenship. Attending the ceremony, Mr. Do Viet Ha, Chief Technology Officer of MK Group has shared his joy and pride in participating in the project and expressed his admiration for C06 team and the Ministry of Public Security for the two major projects. Additionally, Mr. Do Viet Ha, on behalf of MK Group, also expressed the desire of the company to focus on research and further development in terms of technology to quickly complete the infrastructure for e-government in the near future.

The official establishment and operation of RAR shall greatly contribute to the process of building an e-Government towards digital Government, a digital economy and a digital society, while still allowing Vietnam to enter a new era in population management, meeting the requirements of international and regional integration, bringing practical benefits to the citizens of Vietnam./.