RNP always seeks new opportunities to create and evolve their services to generate benefits to its clients. One example is the recent restructuring of the Public Key Infrastructure for Research and Education (ICPEdu), which provides a ready basis for issuing digital certificates and security keys to client institutions. In a short time, the service’s new version has already generated about US$ 2 million savings to the public purse.

ICPEdu was launched in 2007 on a trial basis, involving a small number of institutions and, three years later, it joined the RNP Service Catalog. However, the model offered did not meet the expectations of client institutions, requesting the creation of a simpler and more efficient certificate management feature. "These demands were often brought up in meetings of Identity Management Advisory Committee, which brings together representatives of client institutions and RNP involved in this matter. We began to conduct studies to find a solution internally, however, it would be very costly, and with no assurance of result in an appropriate time", explained Service Manager Leandro Guimarães.

In 2012, after prospecting possibilities, representatives of the RNP Services area contacted GlobalSign, a leading certificate authority in the world, and began to prepare an agreement to offer an ideal solution for managing digital certificates. One year later, the partnership was established. "We are honored to work with RNP, an organization that considers digital security a priority", said GlobalSign CEO Steve Waite.

RNP offers, through this agreement, the possibility for all client institutions to manage high organizational level certificates to their domains and subdomains, with universal compatibility and a reliable identity. The service was formally launched in October 2014.

This was possible after the first ICPEdu major restructuring, held last year, which has become a certification service group, which have their own accession processes. Thus, an institution can only join one of the modalities or all of them. One of these modalities is the Corporate CA SSL, which offers client institutions the possibility to issue, free of charge SSL certificates doubly qualified by ICPEdu and GlobalSign.

The service reformulation was highlighted by the user institutions as a success. “The ability to ensure the authenticity and reliability offered by SSL Certificates has always had a very high associated cost, being considered inaccessible to public universities. RNP Corporate AC SSL service provides us this capacity in an exemplary manner, with no cost associated with its use. We congratulate RNP for the initiative", said Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (in Portuguese, UFRGS) Director of the Security Information Department Afonso de Araújo Neto.

For Latin America & Caribbean GlobalSign Director Laila Robak, this project has proven essential for the increase in digital security in the public system of higher education in Brazil. "RNP's approach on this matter is, in fact, revolutionary, and we are proud of this partnership", she explained.

Significant savings

The benefits of the ICPEdu Corporate AC SSL modality can already be seen in very significant numbers. By April, 1,356 digital certificates were issued, generating an expected savings of US$ 1,957.726, if it needed be purchased. Coordination for de Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) was the most benefited. The institution has already generated savings estimated at more than US$ 1.2 million to the public purse. This fact occurred in February and March, when the institution issued 513 digital certificates.

"We had significant savings and RNP cooperation was essential. I suggest that other institutions linked to the educational area and requiring digital certificates also use the ICPEdu", noted Capes IT Director, Sérgio Cortês (picture).

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Other beneficiary institutions

Curiosity: fast payback

Since late 2013, RNP invested US$ 276,500 to provide the Corporate AC SSL modality. The service was formally launched in October 2014 and, in four months, the organization has recovered all its investment. The issue of 481 digital certificates until February this year established this milestone. The result refers to the estimated value it would cost if certificates were to be purchased, according to the prices charged by GlobalSign.