WISeKey and Parrot strengthen partnership on drone security

WISeKey and Parrot strengthen partnership on drone security

In the wake of the recent evolutions of drone regulation, the two partners are combining their technology and expertise in digital security to increase security standards in the drone industry. Their common objective is to bring trust, while a growing number of public and private organizations rely significantly on drone services for their activities.

Paris, France - Geneva, Switzerland – May 25, 2021: WISeKey International Holding Ltd ("WISeKey,” SIX: WIHN / Nasdaq: WKEY), a leading global cybersecurity, AI and IoT company, announced today that it is strengthening its partnership with Parrot, the leading European drone group. Wisekey will not only be securing Parrot’s drones, it is also entering into a new collaboration with Parrot and with a leading cybersecurity certification and audit company. Together they aim at identifying and proposing digital security standards for drones, and globally recognizable evaluation methods that would help users and authorities to easily identify reliable drone solutions from unsafe ones in the future.

The commercial drone market is expected to grow from $4 billion to over $40 billion by 2025. Public safety, security, defense, and inspection professionals represent a growing share of drone users who demand the highest levels of privacy, encryption, and security for their flights. Supply chain partners, citizens, and authorities need to trust drone operation, whether it is about payload transport in urban areas or operation above industrial or nuclear facilities. From a compliance standpoint, on top of GDPR rules protecting data privacy, the latest regulation makes it mandatory for both recreational and professional drones to be remotely identifiable and traceable by authorities. However, the required cybersecurity standards for these communications have not yet been defined

The partners will therefore be collaborating to help define which security features could be implemented at both hardware level and communications to ensure a drone’s ID broadcast can be trusted and is only accessible to legitimate viewers, protecting data confidentiality and avoiding impersonation and liability issues.

For more than two decades, WISeKey has been focusing on complying with the most demanding certification standards for its secure hardware and trust services. As an organization, WISeKey operates for many years under tight security procedures and in a trusted environment as imposed by the strict ISO.27001 guidelines. WISeKey secure elements used in Drones are certified by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) following FIPS140-2 Level 3 standard, one of the strongest and globally recognized digital security levels. These chips are also developed on Common Criteria EAL5+ certified hardware, another government-grade security certification.

Parrot’s range of ANAFI drones offers secure, ultra-compact, rugged, and powerful tools to gain a new vantage point, collect valuable data and improve safety and efficiencies for a variety of sensitive flights. By incorporating WISeKey’s certified digital security technologies from inflight control systems down to infrastructure, Parrot guarantees the security of drone flights and professional users’ data.

"The security regulation and compliance landscape of commercial drone operations will soon be a key driver for this fast-growing industry. WISeKey and Parrot are perfectly positioned to contribute actively to shaping its future by demonstrating best practices,” said Carlos Moreira, WISeKey’s Founder and CEO.

"We are thrilled to strengthen our partnership with Parrot as we continue our company’s mission to secure digital identity, firmware and sensitive data, and extend the applications of our technologies into new markets and growing industries across the globe,”

"As drone use continues to climb exponentially within the professional sector, Parrot understands the immense need for cutting edge cybersecurity standards,” said Victor Vuillard, Chief Security Officer/CTO Cybersecurity of Parrot. "We believe this new dimension of our partnership with WISeKey, our security partner, will contribute to deliver peace of mind to all stakeholders whether it is our users, their clients or public authorities.”

For more information on Parrot and its ANAFI drones, visit Parrot.com.
To learn more about WISeKey and its security solutions, visit WISeKey.com.

Press and investor contacts:

WISeKey:

Carlos Moreira         WISeKey Investor Relations (US)
Chairman & CEO         Lena Cati
info@wisekey.com         lcati@equityny.com
Tel. +41 22 594 3000         Tel. +1 212 836-9611

Parrot:                                                                   Airfoil for Parrot:
Cecilia Hage         Rebecca Courtney
Cecilia.hage@parrot.com         Parrot@airfoilgroup.com
Tel. +33 (1) 48 03 61 92         Tel. +1 248 304 1457

About WISeKey
WISeKey (NASDAQ: WKEY; SIX Swiss Exchange: WIHN) is a leading global cybersecurity company currently deploying large scale digital identity ecosystems for people and objects using Blockchain, AI and IoT respecting the Human as the Fulcrum of the Internet. WISeKey microprocessors secure the pervasive computing shaping today’s Internet of Everything. WISeKey IoT has an install base of over 1.5 billion microchips in virtually all IoT sectors (connected cars, smart cities, drones, agricultural sensors, anti-counterfeiting, smart lighting, servers, computers, mobile phones, crypto tokens etc.). WISeKey is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of IoT as our semiconductors produce a huge amount of Big Data that, when analyzed with Artificial Intelligence (AI), can help industrial applications to predict the failure of their equipment before it happens.
Our technology is Trusted by the OISTE/WISeKey’s Swiss based cryptographic Root of Trust ("RoT”) provides secure authentication and identification, in both physical and virtual environments, for the Internet of Things, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. The WISeKey RoT serves as a common trust anchor to ensure the integrity of online transactions among objects and between objects and people. For more information, visit www.wisekey.com.

About Parrot

Founded in 1994 by Henri Seydoux, Parrot is today the leading European group in the fast-growing industry of drones. Visionary, at the forefront of innovation, Parrot is the only group to be positioned across the entire value chain, from equipment to services and software.

• Parrot, the world's number 2 of the consumer drone market, designs drones known for their high performance and ease of use.
• Parrot has a portfolio of outstanding companies and interests in commercial drones, covering equipment, software and services. Its expert capabilities are focused primarily on three vertical markets: (i) agriculture, (ii) 3D Mapping, Surveying and Inspection, and (iii) Defense and Security.

The Parrot Group designs and engineers its products in Europe, mainly in France and Switzerland. It currently employs over 500 people worldwide and makes the majority of its sales outside of France. Parrot, headquartered in Paris, has been listed since 2006 on Euronext Paris (FR0004038263 - PARRO).
Financial information can be found on http://corporate.parrot.com. For more information: www.parrot.com and its subsidiaries www.pix4d.com, www.sensefly.com, www.micasense.com.

Disclaimer:
This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning WISeKey International Holding Ltd and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of WISeKey International Holding Ltd to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. WISeKey International Holding Ltd is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, and it does not constitute an offering prospectus within the meaning of article 652a or article 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or a listing prospectus within the meaning of the listing rules of the SIX Swiss Exchange. Investors must rely on their own evaluation of WISeKey and its securities, including the merits and risks involved. Nothing contained herein is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to the future performance of WISeKey.