Secure Chorus transfers interoperability standards to ETSI

These much-awaited interoperability standards for encrypted messaging, one-to-one and group voice communication, will not only provide solutions which offer end-to-end encryption – powered by the open cryptographic standard MIKEY-SAKKE – but will also alleviate the constraining forces of vendor lock-in and allow enterprise users to choose their preferred service in terms of functionality. 

Just like phone numbers connect customers of different telephony networks, Secure Chorus interoperability standards allow encrypted communication between users of different apps.

MIKEY-SAKKE is a cryptographic protocol created to be deployed in an enterprise environment to enable secure, cross-platform multimedia communications. It is designed to be centrally managed, giving a domain manager full control of the security of the system. MIKEY-SAKKE has received endorsement at global level, standardised by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IEFT) and approved by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) - the body responsible for standardising mobile communications - for use in mission-critical applications.

The four-year Secure Chorus pilot project, focused on the development of interoperability standards, included stakeholders from around the world and received a large set of contributions from representatives of multinational and smaller companies, academia and governmental institutions. The transfer of these technology standards to ETSI was successfully achieved in December 2020, enabling their wide adoption as well as development of new features in the future.

Stephen Brown, Secure Chorus’ Chairman, said: “Secure Chorus is very pleased that ETSI has agreed to the transfer of ownership of our interoperability standards. ETSI is a centre of excellence for the development of globally applicable standards for ICT, so we are confident they will continue the good work we started.”

The successful completion of this pilot project consolidates Secure Chorus’ mission to serve as a platform for multi-stakeholder cooperation for the development of forward-looking strategies and capabilities to achieve strong cybersecurity solutions for our digital environments.