Remy Cricco (IDEMIA) has been re-elected to serve a second term as the Chairman of SIMalliance, the non-profit association which represents approximately 90% of the global SIM industry. In parallel, the SIMalliance Board has confirmed that the organisation’s priority in the year ahead will be to educate stakeholders within the IoT ecosystem about the critical need for security in connected devices and digital services.
Remy will work closely with SIMalliance Board representatives from G+D Mobile Security, Gemalto, ST Incard and Valid to facilitate the sustained growth of connected objects through trusted connectivity. An immediate priority will be to advance understanding of the significant security benefits offered by eSIM and eSE technology in specific use cases which use both cellular and non-cellular connectivity, such as connected cars, utilities, wearables, smart connected cities and healthcare.
With the imminent launch of the first 5G networks in 2019, SIMalliance will also work to educate audiences on the benefits that 5G SIM cards deliver and their ability to serve as a strategic platform to enhance connectivity, promote privacy and advance security to protect against existing and future threats.
“The global SIM industry is undergoing a transformation, as it evolves to serve an increasingly connected digital world which presents many new opportunities and challenges,” comments Remy. “Through participation in SIMalliance over the next year and beyond, the SIM industry has committed to collaboratively and continually advance and promote security provision for connected devices and digital services. The goal is to offer adequate protection for service provider assets, application and device data, and end user privacy, regardless of use case.”
Remy continues: “The IoT ecosystem continues to expand, drawing in stakeholders who are new to digital service provision and unfamiliar with digital security risks and requirements. Yet it’s still the case that most connected devices offer no security for data storage and communication exchanges, and fail to ensure firmware integrity or offer protection against cyber attacks. In the coming year, SIMalliance members will work together to deliver resources which will give OEMs, device manufacturers and digital service providers across all industries the knowledge and ability to choose connectivity solutions which benefit from end-to-end security. I look forward to working with my Board colleagues and the wider SIMalliance membership to further advance the concept, understanding and deployment of trusted connectivity solutions.”