Diversinet Corp.  has announced support for fellow Canadian company Research in Motion's BlackBerry 7100 Series of business phones. BlackBerry 7100 users can  now use the Diversinet MobiSecure Token for what is known as  "strong authentication," operating through the Diversinet MobiSecure Authentication Service Center. (Strong  authentication requires users to possess additional physical hardware in addition to a password. )

"Reliable, standardized, strong authentication services have become essential to both corporations and the average person as they conduct more and more everyday online and mobile transactions," says Kashif Hassan, President of Diversinet. "Since more than one billion people around the world are already carrying mobile phones, it makes sense to leverage popular mobile handsets such as BlackBerry as a vehicle to deliver mobile-optimized strong authentication services."

MobiSecure Tokens from Diversinet simplify the replacement of costly and complex traditional hard tokens, USB tokens and smart cards for strong authentication in the enterprise environment, Hassan says. In addition, the MobiSecure Token "can enable a more secure online experience for mass-market Internet users for services such as Web-based banking and e-commerce."

The company's announcement comes in the wake of  the rise in malicious cyberspace attacks, combined with the growth of mobile computing and the increasing openness of most corporate networks. Diversinet maintains that there is an increased need for strong authentication for remote access, user log-in, and single sign-on.