Apache Milagro (Incubating) Creates an Alternative to Outdated and Problematic Monolithic Trust Hierarchies, Providing a More Secure Infrastructure That's Built for Today's Internet

/EINPresswire.com/ -- VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - May 11, 2016) -  Leading into one of The Apache Software Foundation's largest developer events, ApacheCon North America, MIRACL, NTT Innovation Institute, Inc. (NTT i3) and NTT Labs join forces to contribute their security and authentication code to a new open­source project within the Apache Incubator called Apache Milagro (incubating).

This joint contribution establishes a new internet security framework made of cryptographic service providers called Distributed Trust Authorities, who independently issue shares of keys to application endpoints which have embedded Milagro cryptographic libraries and applications.

A Distributed Trust Authority (D­TA) framework splits the functions of a pairing­-based key generation server into three services, issuing thirds of private keys to distinct identities. The shares of the three private keys, generated by cloud computing providers, their customers, and dedicated trust providers, are received by Crypto App clients, thus becoming the only audience who possess knowledge of the whole key. Since key generation services are under separate organizational controls, current root key compromises and key escrow threats are an order of magnitude more difficult since an attacker would need to subvert all three (or more) independent parties.

The D­TA framework and crypto libraries make it easy to secure internet platforms, and IoT devices and mobile application ecosystems they connect to by providing a positive alternative to the problematic single authority certificate infrastructure in use today. The results of this joint development are now contributed to Apache Milagro (incubating) including the code to build blockchain security applications, multi­factor authentication, secure communications, and data governance/compliance, which meet stringent requirements for finance services, government and healthcare.

"Security has been a key concern in many of today's new and most disruptive applications, including commerce, health, government, online banking, and digital currency." says Nina Simosko, CEO of NTT i3. "For emerging IoT and mobile services particularly, security will play an integral part of ensuring our social and industrial infrastructure can depended on these services. As the security risks becomes more prevalent to these services, enterprise organizations must adopt new security paradigms that address the new security risks while enabling key business digitalization strategies. We believe the technologies in Apache Milagro (incubating) will go a long way to doing both."

"Apache Milagro (incubating) is an opportunity to fix what ails the internet and leverage the power of the open source community to fundamentally evolve the security underpinnings of the web for how it's used today," says Brian Spector, CEO of cryptography and cybersecurity firm MIRACL. "The code and distributed trust model we are committing to Apache Milagro (incubating) is built for blockchain applications, cloud computing services, mobile and containerized developer applications by eliminating the need for any central trust authority. We are very excited to be part of Apache Milagro (incubating) and to work with the Apache Community to make the web more secure for everyone."

"Apache Milagro (incubating) signals an important expansion from a few companies' development efforts to a much wider community initiative that embraces the contributions of corporate development teams as well as independent developers," says Dr. Hitoshi Fuji, Executive Manager at NTT Secure Platform Laboratories. "We are very pleased to have the opportunity to see our contributions expand in new directions through a widely­recognized and well­understood framework for organizations to work collaboratively, grow communities and protect contributors."

Included in the contributions to the open source project is the baseline Milagro Crypto Library (MCL) that enables developers to build distributed trust systems and select from a choice of secure, proven, pairing based protocols that enable certificate-less key encapsulation, zero knowledge proof authentication, authenticated key agreement and digital signing.

Apache Milagro (incubating) also contains a pairing­based TLS library, Milagro TLS, which enables encrypted connections with perfect forward secrecy between mobile applications or IoT devices and backend service infrastructures without the need for certificates or PKI.

Higher level applications include Milagro MFA, a multi­factor authentication platform that uses zero knowledge proof protocols to eliminate the password and hence the threat of password database breach. Milagro MFA includes client SDKs in JavaScript, C, iOS, Android and Windows Phone, as well as the Authentication Server for Linux. These contributions easily integrate with the Apache Web Server which will allow developers and security engineers to integrate or build an easy­to­use multi­factor authentication solution into their web properties or web applications in minutes.

MIRACL, NTT i3 and NTT Labs will be engaging the Apache community at ApacheCon North America through a keynote session and a speaking track.

For More Information

Apache Milagro (incubating): http://milagro.incubator.apache.org/ and http://sched.co/6Wla

ApacheCon North America: http://apachecon.com/

Note to Editors

Apache Milagro (incubating) is an effort undergoing incubation at The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), sponsored by the Apache Incubator PMC. Incubation is required of all newly accepted projects until a further review indicates that the infrastructure, communications, and decision making process have stabilized in a manner consistent with other successful ASF projects. While incubation status is not necessarily a reflection of the completeness or stability of the code, it does indicate that the project has yet to be fully endorsed by the ASF.

About MIRACL

MIRACL is a leading internet cyber­security solution provider and a pioneer in cryptographic solutions for IoT devices and applications. MIRACL's Distributed Trust Authority service provides an alternative to commercial certificate authorities with solutions for user

authentication, secure communications, and data compliance that bring value to cloud providers and their customers in sectors such as finance, government, and healthcare. MIRACL's M­Pin crypto application provides online identity and access management security. M­Pin does not store passwords, PINs or credentials of any kind, eliminating credential theft attacks that organizations face today.

MIRACL is headquartered in the UK with offices in London and Tokyo, Japan. To learn more about MIRACL, visit, www.miracl.com.

About NTT i 3

NTT Innovation Institute, Inc. (NTT i3) is the Silicon Valley­based innovation center for NTT Group, one of the world's largest ICT companies. Focused on fostering strategic innovation, NTT i3 works with established enterprise companies interested in investigating new approaches to evolving into technology­first, digitally­driven businesses. Likewise, NTT i3 partners with early stage digitally­native businesses looking to expand their presence and challenger advantage.

Accelerating the movement of innovation from initial idea to marketplace implementation, NTT i3 combines access to the significant global infrastructure resources, investment fund, research knowledge, and trusted long­standing customer relationships of NTT Global with its own software startup expertise and deep enterprise relationships. NTT i3 helps. We then provide focus and practical application by translating those ambitious ideas into the development of new technology platforms, products, and practices that empower companies to evolve into leading technology­first, digitally­driven businesses.

For more information, please visit NTT i3 at www.ntti3.com or on Facebook and Twitter.

About NTT

NTT Group delivers advanced technology and innovative solutions in networking, communications, software and cloud computing that help transform businesses, governments and societies around the world.

NTT Group will deliver convenient, enriched and reliable services to support customers as a "Value Partner" that its customers will continue to select. Today, 80% of Fortune 100 companies rely on NTT Group as their business partner. NTT Group generates over $105 billion in annual revenues, has over 233 data centers and employs more than 240,000 professionals working in 88 countries.

Trademarks

"Apache", "Milagro", "Apache Milagro", "ApacheCon", and their logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other brands and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts
Greg Wood
VP
Zeno Group
Email: greg.wood@zenogroup.com
Phone: +1 650­801­7958

Beth Trier
Trier and Company for NTT i3
Email: beth@triercompany.com
Phone: +1 415­285­6147

NTT Service Innovation Laboratory Group
Email: randd@lab.ntt.co.jp

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