Manufacture in Switzerland? The perfect solution for security equipment!

A few weeks ago we attended a lecture by Adi Shamir, the co-inventor of the RSA encryption algorithm. After his talk someone asked him how to build a HSM. In fact, we are building a HSM - a hardware security module at Securosys. Obviously we were very interested in his answer

In his list of requirements the first point was: "Design it yourself!" An easy checkmark for us. Different than other security equipment manufacturers we have our own design team in Zurich. We are in full control of the design. There is no rebranding of hardware designed somewhere by another company. 

MANUFACTURED IN SWITZERLAND - NOT IN CHINA

Adi's second point was: "Don't manufacture in China!" Again we are in full agreement. While building products  in a low wage country might be cheaper, it adds a substiantial security risk. How much control do you have over a faraway contract manufacturer? How can you avoid that your product, especially a security product, is not contaminated with unwanted features? Securosys is using local Swiss contact manufacturers. This allows us to control the manufacturing process regularly and avoid any surprises. We believe that manufacturing in any country that is not free of the influence of its intelligence services adds a security risk. 

CHECKED EMPLOYEES

The third point on Adi's list was: "Check your employees!" Actually, he was even more blunt: "Attach them to a lie detector..." Labor laws don't allow such a drastic measure. So how can we trust our employees? What other means are available to make sure we can rely on them? At Securosys everybody is background checked. We get to know our employees on and off work. And once again, we want them to be local, rooted in Switzerland. Their work, the part Adi is really worried about, is cross checked and peer reviewed. 

INDEPENDENCY AND STRONG PRIVACY LAWS

Make it yourself requires the whole package: local design, local engineers, and local production! No process is perfect, but we can make sure that we have the best in place. We are exploiting the strengths of Switzerland. High quality engineering and manufacturing is combined with international independence and privacy laws. These are the key ingredients why our security conscious customers trust our products. This makes Switzerland the perfect place for manufacturing!

Robert Rogenmoser, CEO Securosys