GlobalSign Renews its North American Energy Standards Board Authorized CA Certification
Leading energy industry group and its members rely on GlobalSign’s PKI-based digital certificates to increase the security of online transactions
BOSTON, Mass., June 16, 2020 -- GMO GlobalSign (www.globalsign.com), a global Certificate Authority (CA) and leading provider of identity and security solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced the company has renewed its relationship with the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). In doing so, GlobalSign is continuing its commitment to the energy industry by providing certificate authority services to NAESB for the eighth year. NAESB is an industry forum for the development and promotion of standards for the wholesale and retail natural gas and electricity industry.
GlobalSign's Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) experts understand the unique security requirements of the power grid. By using GlobalSign's digital certificates, NAESB members such as wholesale and retail electric distributers, wholesale and retail gas distributors and other market participants can increase the security of their online transactions and maintain standards. The digital certificates are delivered via a Managed PKI platform which allows compliance and security officers affiliated with NAESB to easily issue and manage their certificates.
“NAESB relies on GlobalSign for digital certificates to meet the stringent security standards of the energy industry. These are critical to combat today’s cyber threats,” said Rae McQuade, President, NAESB. “Since we began working with GlobalSign in 2012, they have proven to be of the highest integrity with secure, reliable processes and superior customer service.”
GlobalSign’s digital certificates can be used for multiple use cases, including secure authentication to online portals such as ISO-NE, where authorized market participants and Independent System Operators (ISO) can access real-time and historical data to make informed decisions around energy trading. Further, NAESB certificates issued by GlobalSign enable high assurance digital credentials used for accessing critical energy services such as the EIR Web Registry, a central repository for information required to support commercial, scheduling, and transmission management operations for North American natural gas and electricity providers.
To become an Authorized CA (ACA) for the NAESB, a Certificate Authority must meet the NAESB ACA Accreditation Requirements that specify the various security requirements the CA must operate against. Independently verified by a third party auditor, the ACA accreditation requirements complement the (WEQ)-12 Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) standard applicable to users and relying parties of digital certificates issued by the ACA. The ACA specification covers important areas of PKI lifecycle management such as:
- how identities are verified;
- how private keys are protected;
- the strength of key sizes and algorithms;
- validation methods to be used during auditing; and
- logging as well other operational considerations
“As an active member of NAESB for many years, I’m thrilled that we are continuing to provide PKI expertise for the unique needs of the energy sector,” said Lila Kee, General Manager, Americas, GlobalSign. “GlobalSign’s reauthorization comes at a time when energy operators are increasingly dealing with a variety of cyber attacks, including those that are state-sponsored and more recently domestic bad actors looking to hold grid providers at ransom through a variety of cyber-attacks. Now more than ever, our trusted PKI-based solutions are essential to help protect critical infrastructure from damaging attacks.”
To learn more about GlobalSign’s solutions for the electric power industry, visit https://shop.globalsign.com/en/digital-certificates-for-naesb
About GMO GlobalSign
As one of the world’s most deeply-rooted certificate authorities, GlobalSign is the leading provider of trusted identity and security solutions enabling businesses, large enterprises, cloud-based service providers and IoT innovators worldwide to conduct secure online communications, manage millions of verified digital identities and automate authentication and encryption. Its high-scale PKI and identity solutions support the billions of services, devices, people and things comprising the IoT. A subsidiary of Japan-based GMO Cloud KK and GMO Internet Group, GMO GlobalSign has offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit https://www.globalsign.com
Media Relations Contact:
Amy Krigman
Public Relations Manager
Phone: 603-570-7060
Email: amy.krigman@globalsign.com