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Utimaco, formerly written as uti-maco, is an supplier of cybersecurity
solutions, established in 1983 and
headquartered in Aachen (Germany) and Campbell (Silicon Valley, USA).
The company specialises in Hardware Security Modules (HSM),
Key Management solutions, data protection, identity management,
Public Warnings Systems (PWS) and solutions for regulated critical
infrastructure.
Utimaco also supplies Lawful Interception Magement Systems (LIMS)
to goverments.
The company has 500+ employees (2023) and has additional offices in
London (UK), Assago (Italy), Herzeliya (Israel) and Singapore [1].
Furthermore it has a worldwide network of
strategic partners, such as Compumatica in The Netherlands and
InfoGuard in Switzerland.
In 2022, Utimaco was acquired from the previous owner EQT Partners by
SGT Capital.
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Utimaco products on this website
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Utimaco was founded in 1964 with a focus on the early data processing centres.
In 1983, under direction of Horst Görtz, the company was renamed
uti-maco Software GmbH and shifted focus to information security.
In the following years, Utimaco lauched its two mainstream products:
a Hardware Security Module (HMS) in 1991, and a
Lawful Interception Management System (LIMS) in 1994.
Both these products are still the core of the company's product
portfolio today {2023).
Over the years, Utimaco has grown considerably, partly resulting from
sales of in-house developed hard- and software solutions, but also as a
result of a series of mergers and acquisitions. After becoming listed on
the stock exchange, Utimaco was owned by several investors and parent
companies, including Sophos, Apex Partners, BIP Investment Parners,
PINOVA Capital, EQT Partners and lastly SGT Capital, which is the
current owner (2023).
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In the past, there was also an Utimaco branch in Belgium. Established in May
1992, 80% of the shares of this branch were held by four former employees
of Cryptech — a spin-off from the Univerity of Louvain's 1 ESAT laboratory
that had run into financial trouble in early 1992. The remaining 20% of
the shares were held by Uti-maco Germany, which also lend it its name [2].
After the demise of Cryptech, Uti-maco Belgium acquired the worldwide rights
to its security tool kits, which were marketed alongside Uti-maco Germany's
own SafeGuard products. In addition, a joint venture agreement was signed
with COSIC, the department of the University of Louvain involved in
cryptographic technology research. With only five employees, Uti-maco Belgium
closed its first financial year with a turnover of BFR 38 million
(approx. EUR 1 million) [2].
In 1995, all shares of the Belgian Utimaco were taken over by Utimaco Germany,
after which the company became a full daughter of Utimaco Germany.
In 2002, the Belgian Utimaco faced bankruptcy, after the German parent
had stopped the supply of financial resources. As a result, 30 people lost
their job. The products and software rights remained with the German parent [3].
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in Flemish/Dutch, Louvain is known as Leuven.
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In 2011, Utimaco was accused of integrating its Lawful Interception
product (LIMS) into the surveillance systems used by the Government
of Iran, leading to the arrest, detention and torture of a university
student [7]. The technology was also sold to Syria at a time when
sanctions were in force on the country (although these sanction did
not yet include surveillance software).
Utimaco first supplied LIMS to Iran in 2006 for MTN Irancell (via
Nokia's German unit Trovicor). Iranian security agents later confirmed
that this allowed them to spy on human rights activist Saleh Hamid, who
eventually was detained and tortured for 'spreading propaganda against
the regime'. LIMS was also included in the
2010 offering of the Chinese company Huawei for a bid for a
lawful interception solution on MobiNet, the first wireless broadband
provider in Iran [7].
In 2011, a Bloomberg investigation revealed that Utimaco was involved
supplying surveillance equipment to Syria, via the Italian company Area,
at a time when international sanctions were in force.
Although the sanctions did not include surveillance technology,
Utimaco's parent Sophos took the matter seriously and
abandonned its relationship with Utimaco. In 2013, Utimaco was
demerged through a management buyout involving BIP Investment Partners
and PINOVA Capital.
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The following names/companies are related to Utimaco:
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- Utimaco
- Uti-maco
- Utimaco Software GmbH
- Utimaco Safeware AG
- Utimaco GmbH
- Utimaco IS GmbH
- Utimaco Managment GmbH
- SafeGuard
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1986 SAFE-MEN 1987 SAFE-Board 1991 HSM CryptoServer 1994 LIMS 2002 2nd Gen. HSM CryptoServer 2006 HSM SDK 2007 HSM Simulator 2010 eID Deutschland HSM 2012 SafeGuard CryptoServer LAN 2016 6th Gen. HSM ? CryptoServer CB5
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1964 Founded as Utilisation des Machines Comptables [6] 1983 Uti-maco Germany Software GmbH founded in Frankfurt (Germany) 1 1986 SAFE-MEN launched (PC-based data protection) 1987 SAFE-Board (harddisc protection) 1988 SafeGuard Professional receives Golden Award Software Europe 1990 Move from Frankfurt to Oberursel (Germany) 1991 Merger with data security division of PC Plus GmbH (München) 1991 SafeGuard Professional 3.1 certified 1991 First Hardware Security Module (HSM) 1992 SafeGuard LAN Crypt launched 1992 SafeGuard Easy launched 1992 Utimaco Belgium NV founded (20%) 1993 Utimaco Safeware Inc. founded 1993 Acquisition of data security portfolio of CGN Data Trading (Köln) 1993 SafeGuard products sold under IBM brand (cooperation with IBM) 1994 Development of Lawful Interception Management System (LIMS) 1994 Acquisition of Safeware GmbH in Austria 1994 SafeGuard for Mac discontinued 1994 Utimaco Safeware France A.S. founded (France) 1994 Utimaco Safeware Schweiz AG founded (Switzerland) 1994 Utimaco Norge AS founded (Norway) 1995 Acquisition of D&R (Netherlands), renamed Utimaco Sofeware BV 1995 Acquisition of Utimaco Belgium NV 1995 SafeGuard Desktop for OS/2 launched (partnership with IBM) 1996 Utimaco Safeware Ltd. founded (UK) 1997 Partnership with ALPS (Ireland) 1997 Patent application for digital signature, SafeGuard Sign&Crypt 1997 Utimaco Safeware BV founded (Netherlands) 1998 Utimaco Safeware AB founded (Norwegen) 1998 SafeGuard Sign&Crypt launched 1998 Utimaco Safeware AB founded (Sweden) 1998 Acquisition of Mergent International (USA) 1998 Utimaco Safeware Oy founded (Finland) 1998 LANCrypt for Windows launched 1999 Acquisition of KryptoKom (Aachen, Germany) 1999 SafeGuard VPN launched 1999 Stock exchange as Utimaco Safeware AG 2000 Card reader for online payments 2000 Omnikey founded (joint venture with ACG) 2000 Partnership with Siemens Health Services 2000 SafeGuard Personal Firewall launched 2001 Partnership with Percise Biometrics 2001 Danish Police cannot break 16 notebooks secured with SafeGuard Easy 2001 SafeGuard Biometrics launched 2002 Major restructuring 2002 Utimaco Belgium closed down 2002 Network Security business line taken over by Compumatica 2007 SafeGuard Enterprise launched 2008 Utimaco Safeware firewall technology taken over by Compumatica 2009 Utimaco Safeware acquired by Sophos 2010 Majority of Utimaco sold to Apax Partners 2011 Accused of supplying LIMS to repressive regimes [4] 2012 Delisted from the stock exchange 2013 Utimaco acquired by BIP Investment partners and Pinova Capital 2014 Utimaco Safeware AG dissolved 2016 Utimaco Management GmbH founded 2017 Utimaco acquired by EQT Partners 2018 Acquisition of Atalla HSM product line from Micro Focus International 2018 Acquisition of Enterprise Secure Key Manager (ESKM) 2020 Acquisition of Geobridge 2021 Acquisition of MYHSM service 2021 Acquisition of exceet Secure Solutions GmbH 2021 Acquisition of Realsec 2022 Utimaco acquired by SGT Capital 2022 Acquisition of Celltick (Public Warning Systems)
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Utimaco is an abbraviation of the company's former name Utilisation
des Machines Comptables [9].
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- Utimaco corporate website
Visited March 2023.
- Second chance for Flemish software security skills
De Tijd, 7 May 1993
- Belga, 30 banen weg bij Utimaco Safeware Belgium
Gazet van Antwerpen, 17 September 2002.
- CISION, SGT Capital completes the acquisition of Utimaco, ...
PR Newswire, 1 June 2022.
- Wikipedia, Sophos
Visited 5 March 2023.
- Wikipedia (Germany), Utimaco
Visited 5 March 2023.
- A giant leap backwards: Corporations divesting toxic surveillance companies
Privacy International (PI), 25 October 2023.
Archived from the original link
- Everybody Wiki, Utimaco
Visited 5 March 2023.
- Hans-Peter Dorn, Utimaco, Ein kleiner Streifzug durech die Geschichte, 1983-2015
Visited 5 March 2023.
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Sunday 05 March 2023. Last changed: Monday, 20 March 2023 - 08:06 CET.
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