Press Release : WISeKey and MINES Saint-Etienne Research Institute Collaborate to Secure Post-Quantum Economy

 
   WISeKey and MINES Saint-Etienne Research Institute Collaborate to Secure 
Post-Quantum Economy 
 
   While quantum computing offers endless perspectives to incredibly 
increase computing power, hackers will take advantage of this technology 
to crack cryptography algorithms, corrupt cybersecurity and compromise 
global economy. WISeKey and MINES Saint-Etienne Research Institute team 
up to find new post-quantum resistant algorithms. 
 
   Meyreuil & Gardanne, France -- June 10, 2021: WISeKey International 
Holding Ltd. ("WISeKey") (SIX: WIHN, NASDAQ: WKEY), a leading global 
cybersecurity and IoT company, and MINES Saint-Etienne Research 
Institute ("MINES Saint-Etienne"), an internationally renowned 
multidisciplinary university and labs created in 1816, today announced 
they are starting a new R&D cooperation to help the international 
community find cryptography algorithms that will resist future quantum 
computing based cyber-attacks. They will jointly participate in the 
related US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 
standardization program (NIST PQC) launched in 2016. 
 
   Researches about quantum computing, namely how to use quantum mechanical 
phenomena to perform fast computation, were initiated in the early 
1980s. The perspectives and unbelievable performances offered by this 
promising technology are so huge that many countries are sponsoring 
public/private R&D initiatives. With the French Quantum Program launched 
by President Macron in January 2021, and worth 1.8 billion euros over 5 
years, France has rejoint the USA and China in the Top-3 countries 
leading this international race. WISeKey and MINES Saint-Etienne will be 
cooperating in this context. 
 
   This cooperation will take place on both the theoretical and the 
practical grounds. 
 
   WISeKey brings its decades of expertise in designing Common Criteria 
EAL5+ and FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified hardware based secure elements 
(MS600x secure microcontrollers, VaultIC(TM), ...) and in developing 
hacker resistant firmware. The new algorithms to be evaluated will first 
have to practically run on WISeKey's existing and new hardware 
architectures. The company will also share its expertise in deep 
learning AI techniques to prove the robustness of the implementations. 
 
   MINES Saint-Etienne has developed an international expertise in applied 
mathematics, cryptography and computational sciences since its inception, 
more than two centuries ago. Inspiring innovation is at the heart of 
this public academy, as demonstrated by many studies and publications 
acknowledged by the worldwide scientific community. Highly qualified PhD 
researchers and students will be involved in this public/private unique 
partnership. 
 
   "Digital security is the combination of hardware and software specific 
capabilities. This is exactly where WISeKey have been investing for many 
years to bring the best cybersecurity on the market," said Bernard Vian, 
General Manager of WISeKey Semiconductors. "We are very enthusiastic 
about this cooperation with MINES Saint-Etienne which will ultimately 
result in the best of both: the best post-quantum algorithms 
implementation in future proof secure microcontrollers." 
 
   Dominique Feillet, Head of the Microelectronics Center of Provence -- 
MINES Saint-Etienne, added: "The scientific excellence we have been 
building day after day for so many years in our labs would just be a 
non-sense if it did not meet industrial reality. This is actually the 
founding principle of MINES Saint-Etienne. Our collaboration with 
WISeKey once again illustrates this principle. Together, we will be 
delivering the best trade-off between efficiency and market reality." 
 
   To learn more about WISeKey's cybersecurity propositions, visit 
WISeKey.com 
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. 
 
   To learn more about MINES Saint-Etienne, visit MINES Saint-Etienne 
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. 
 
   About WISeKey 
 
   WISeKey (NASDAQ: WKEY; SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global 
cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity 
ecosystems for people and objects using Blockchain, AI and IoT 
respecting the Human as the Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey 
microprocessors secure the pervasive computing shaping today's Internet 
of Everything. WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.5 billion 
microchips in virtually all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, 
drones, agricultural sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, 
servers, computers, mobile phones, crypto tokens etc.).  WISeKey is 
uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors 
produce a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial 
Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications to predict the 
failure of their equipment before it happens. 
 
   Our technology is Trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey's Swiss based 
cryptographic Root of Trust ("RoT") provides secure authentication and 
identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the 
Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey 
RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online 
transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more 
information, visit 
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www.wisekey.com. 
 
   Press and investor contacts: 
 
 
 
 
WISeKey International Holding Ltd          WISeKey Investor Relations (US) 
 Company Contact: Carlos Moreira            Contact: Lena Cati 
 Chairman & CEO                             The Equity Group Inc. 
 Tel: [phone]                       Tel: [phone] 
 mailto:[e-mail] [e-mail]   mailto:[e-mail] [e-mail] 
-----------------------------------------  --------------------------------------------- 
 
 
   About MINES Saint-Etienne 
 
   École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne is 
a graduate engineering school and research institute aka << Grande 
École d'Ingénieurs >> founded in 1816. Our range of 
career-focused diplomas will open doors to some of the best careers in 
the field of engineering and enable you to build your own international 
network. Our mission is to support the economy by: 
 
 
   -- Educating highly qualified managers with strong technical and scientific 
      skills; 
 
   -- Developing applied research to meet the needs of industry; 
 
   -- Contributing to companies' innovation, creation & competitiveness 
      worldwide. 
 
   -- Our academic standing is committed to excellence, to a wealth of subject 
      fields, and we desire to offer each student a curriculum tailored to his 
      or her goals and the realities of the economic world. 
 
 
   Partnerships are and always will be important to us. We welcome foreign 
students, who may enroll in all or part of our master degree programs -- 
some of which are partly or fully conducted in English. Courses in 
French as a foreign language are offered on a regular basis and can be 
individually tailored. Foreign students may also work on their master 
theses at the École des Mines, for which regional and national 
grants are available. Visiting professors are welcome too and our doors 
are always open to foreign PhD candidates or to co-supervision of 
doctoral theses. 
 
   Press contact: 
 
   MINES Saint-Etienne 
 
   Contact: Celine Ducoin 
 
   Head of Communication 
 
   [e-mail] 
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   Disclaimer: 
 
   This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain 
forward-looking statements concerning WISeKey International Holding Ltd 
and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown 
risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual 
results, financial condition, performance or achievements of WISeKey 
International Holding Ltd to be materially different from any future 
results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such 
forward-looking statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is 
providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to 
update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of 
new information, future events or otherwise. 
 
   This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a 
solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, and it does not 
constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of article 652a or 
article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus 
within the meaning of the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. 
Investors must rely on their own evaluation of WISeKey and its 
securities, including the merits and risks involved. Nothing contained 
herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to 
the future performance of WISeKey. 
 
 
 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 10, 2021 13:03 ET (17:03 GMT)