South Korean rail transport authorities are getting ready to experiment with Internet of Things technologies, and Trustonic is going to play a key role in their security infrastructure.

The project is being led by DAEATI, a traffic control systems specialist based in the country, in collaboration with the Korea Railroad Research Institute and with government support. The idea is to move from a closed network to an open one, a move that could open up new opportunities to enhance rail transport. As Trustonic CEO Ben Cade explained in a statement announcing the collaboration, the “open network project will see DAEATI eliminate costly infrastructure by connecting sensors and management applications to the cellular network.”

But such a move would also obviously entail a need for strong security, so to that end DAEATI is embracing devices featuring Trustonic’s Trusted Execution Environment secure element technology; and it will develop applications and software systems based on the Trustonic Application Protection SDK.

Explaining further, a DAEATI technical researcher said, “we must have the strongest security foundations across every device and application in the network, from sensors and signaling right through to the trains themselves, to ensure the safety of passengers and staff,” adding, “With Trustonic, we have a partner that helps us protect mobile apps, IoT end points and the services they are connected to.”

The project’s announcement arrives just a couple of weeks after the news that Korea-based OTP service Ksmartech had integrated TAP into its flagship authentication service, suggesting that Trustonic is gaining solid traction in the Korean market.