Security

Security is the cornerstone of the EPO's online services. Services used with a smart card have some or all of the following security features:

• Confidentiality - ensuring that only the intended party is able to read the information.
• Authentication - ensuring the identity of the communicating party.
• Data integrity - ensuring that the information has not been modified.
• Non-repudiation - ensuring that a party cannot deny involvement in a transaction.

These security features are implemented using the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol and smart cards (security tokens) adopting Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) technology.

These online services are provided with a VeriSign Global Server Certificate, so a minimum level of 128-bit SSL encryption is automatically ensured for both US and international versions of Firefox and Internet Explorer.

Some products and services can be accessed with a username and password.