GÉANT's Trusted Certificate Service (TCS) allows members of the academic and scientific community to obtain recognized security certificates in Portugal through the RCTS Certificates service. GÉANT has begun preparing its fourth cycle, seeking better conditions in the market.
The European-wide initiative involves all national education and research networks included in the TCS. The ultimate goal, GÉANT emphasizes on its website, will be to achieve “a provision for all NRENs (National Academic and Research Networks) that offers an unlimited number of certificates at a fixed price”.
The TCS service has been in existence since 2005, in five-year cycles, and has been framed by three certificate authorities so far (Global Sign, Comodo and DigiCert). The contract with DigiCert will expire in May 2020, with GÉANT now having preparations for the fourth supply cycle have begun.
Preparation included three public “infoshare” sessions with the GÉANT community. In these meetings, a total of 22 NRENs participated. This work is largely focused on necessary updates, from the point of view of technical requirements and the needs of community members.
The National Scientific Computing Unit is one of the entities that belongs to this structure, being responsible for managing the issuance of certificates for members of the national academic and scientific network, at no additional cost.
Growth potential
According to GÉANT, the vast majority of TCS service members are European NRENs. The most recent data shows a sustained increase in the number of certificate downloads. From around 30 thousand in 2015, the number rose to over 90 thousand – an increase of over 300%.
