D3.2: A study on PKI and biometrics

Title: INTRODUCTION

A large building with a vitreous facade and a prestigious lobby with secured entry doors still represents a classic picture of an enterprise or an organisation main seat. However this is an idea of the past. Companies and organisations in the E-society are becoming more and more virtual structures, distributed over many countries and interacting with a rapidly growing community of collaborators, clients and partners. In parallel to this evolution the classical concept of secured zones inside clearly defined borderlines vanishes. Security now includes logical (information systems) as well as physical assets (buildings, labs). This is true for the physical security, but even more for the security of the knowledge and information space of an enterprise or organisation.