Agreement is the third of its kind in the Middle East Gulf region since the Israel-Gaza conflict
Toronto, Ontario and New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - January 10, 2024) - Sekur Private Data Ltd. (CSE: SKUR) (OTCQB: SWISF) (FSE: GDT0) ("Sekur" or the "Company"), a leading Swiss hosted secure and private communications platform, is pleased to announce that it has signed a major distribution agreement with a distributor in the United Arab Emirates ("UAE") in order to distribute its entire Sekur Swiss-hosted private and encrypted communications platform.
Sekur's distribution agreement was signed with Advanced Vision Smart Solutions ("AVSS") https://advanced-vision.com, a United Arab Emirates corporation from Aby Dhabi, UAE and is valid for a period of 24 months, with renewal options for additional 12 months. The agreement covers all the UAE. In addition to reselling the Sekur solutions, AVSS will also act as its technical support representative. Sekur Private Data is in the process of signing an important partnership agreement with one of the main families of the UAE, based in Abu Dhabi. To that end, AVSS will serve as the sales support for all businesses brought by the second partner. This partnership is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks. The aim of the partnership is to introduce Sekur to several organizations in the UAE, including municipalities, FZ (Free Zones), financial organizations, energy and services enterprises, government organizations and telecom operator Etisalat.
The Middle East has been subject to more and more cyber-attacks due to regional conflicts, such as the one in July 2021, where Saudi Aramco was facing a US$50 million extortion over leaked data. According to the National News, the UAE has thwarted 71 million cyberattacks in 2023 alone. Regional conflicts, such as the Israel-Gaza conflict, make this region a hotbed of cyber -attacks. Sekur can thwart these attacks as its systems are not using third party big tech cloud and Sekur is not using open-source coding, where hackers are most successful at hacking data.
Alain Ghiai, CEO of Sekur Private Data, said: "We are very excited to have signed this distribution agreement for the UAE with Advanced Vision and we expect to sign our second partnership agreement in the UAE very soon. The region is a hotbed of instability and cyber warfare is now part of that instability and is showing signs of increased activity, since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out. Fortunately, we can offer the only Swiss-hosted, proprietary, private and secure communications platform that does not rely on big tech infrastructure, reducing exponentially the risk of cyber penetration for businesses and governments in the region. We believe that our SekurMessenger and SekurMail and SekurVPN for enterprises will be a success with governments, telecom operators and enterprises, such as banks and energy enterprises. Our prime directive is to provide private and secure communications for everyone, and as we are not connected to any Big Tech platform, we offer a truly independent, private and secure means of communications, without any data mining, through our proprietary technology and our secure servers based in Switzerland. We look forward to offering true private and secure communications to our new clients in the UAE, and to protect their intellectual property and privacy from data miners, malicious hackers and rogue states."
Since the Company has added SekurVPN and customized "à la carte" bundles for consumers and businesses, approximately 50% of all customers have been buying bundles with approximately 60% of customers purchasing SekurVPN in the bundle or on its own.
On April 7, 2023, the Company launched SekurVPN, its privacy VPN solution available through Sekur.com, and began commercial sales of its highly anticipated privacy and security VPN solution. The solution is also offered for sale in USD, CAD, NZD, AUD, SGD, CHF, EUR and GPB. Sekur plans to do a full scale launch before year-end 2023 with several videos on social media promoting SekurVPN to select targeted audiences in the U.S. Ghiai discusses the advantages of having a privacy VPN, and other preventive measures to minimize cyberattacks for consumers and businesses, on Sekur Hack of the Week Episode, a nationwide TV show broadcast on Bloomberg TV, Fox Business and on streaming media.
SekurVPN is especially meant for privacy enthusiasts and users wanting to protect their identity from hackers. An example would be users going to their e-banking or shopping online, using their emails, using messaging applications and wanting to have full privacy and protection from hackers hijacking their IP location and signal. The service guarantees not to use Big Tech or hyperscalers for its functioning or hosting, and it guarantees that there are no third party bundles sold with it so no data is leaked or sold to third parties. It guarantees no traffic pulling or monitoring and no phone number is required to register to the service.
According to a Forbes article, 66% of surveyed internet users within the U.S. use a VPN to help protect personal data, 80% use a VPN for increased security and 33% use a VPN to mask their internet activity. More statistics can be found on this VPN Statistics And Trends In 2023 article.
Private:
SekurVPN uses its own proprietary infrastructure and does not use any hyperscaler or Big Tech hosting providers, unlike most other VPNs. SekurVPN offers Swiss IPs only. This guarantees that it is using only SekurVPN's own servers and routing. Other VPNs offer hundreds of locations and are using Big Tech providers, compromising users' privacy. SekurVPN never monitors users' activity and never shares any data with third party service providers. By being a pure VPN, without bundled outside services such as antivirus and ad blockers, SekurVPN keeps users' information private without sharing their data with third party service providers. With SekurVPN, users do not register their phone number on the app or the web, rendering users invisible from hackers or snoopers. No phone number to register, anonymous Swiss IPs only, no data mining or traffic sharing with anyone.
Secure:
SekurVPN's secure VPN routes all your internet traffic through SekurVPN's privately owned servers, in multiple locations in Switzerland only, using the highest encryption industry standards combined with its proprietary HeliX technology for added security. Encryption keys are not stored on devices and are unique at every connection. Users' passwords, confidential data and internet surfing stay encrypted even over public untrusted internet connections.
Easy to use:
SekurVPN is extremely easy to setup and deploy. There is no country list and our interface is simplified; just tap or click the connection button. SekurVPN's no-frills but highly secure and private service gives users peace of mind without thinking about geolocations.
Currently SekurVPN is available to use with MacOS, iOS and Android devices. Versions for Windows 64, Windows 32 and Linux are planned to be launched in the coming weeks.
In addition to SekurVPN, the company offers a bundled Sekur plan, which includes SekurMessenger and SekurMail as a bundle of email, messaging and file transfer into one application, and includes the Company's latest SekurMail technology, which includes a proprietary anti-phishing and privacy feature called SekurSend®. SekurSend® lets a user send an email to any other recipient, whether they have Sekur or not, in full privacy and security as the email never leaves Sekur's encrypted email servers based in Switzerland. The recipient can then click on the notification and reply in the same manner using SekurReply®, without the recipient having to register for a Sekur account. The sender can also decide to protect any email sent by adding a password to open it, a read-limit and a self-destruct timer as well. Sending an email with the SekurSend® feature allows the senders and recipients to add limitless size attachments to the emails without crowding the recipients' email box. This also eliminates BEC attacks for businesses and email phishing attacks. Additionally, SekurMail includes full control of email delivery, automatic data export for large enterprises and an automatic Data Loss Prevention technology ("DLP") with real time continuous archiving.
Recent data breaches in messaging applications have created a certain urgency for businesses and data privacy advocates to protect their communications from cyberattacks and identity theft via mobile and desktop devices.
SekurMessenger comes with a proprietary feature and technology called "Chat-By-Invite." This feature allows a SekurMessenger user ("SM user") to invite via email or SMS a non-SM user, or a group of non-SM users, to chat in a fully private and secure way without the recipient ever having to register to SekurMessenger or download the app. At the end of the chat, the initiator of the conversation can remotely terminate the conversation and all traces of the conversation are deleted from all users, including the recipient. This unique feature is now fully deployed and functional on all iOS and Android devices and web platforms. The target sectors are numerous, including but not limited to real estate, legal, finance, insurance, medical, government, energy, manufacturing, trade and pharmaceutical sectors.
SekurMessenger also eliminates many of the privacy and security risks by not requiring a phone number, which would divulge a user's phone device ID, but also by not social engineering a user's phone or computer contact list and infecting the contacts by default as well, eliminating a huge loophole in security and privacy. SekurMessenger issues each user a username and a Sekur number. The Sekur number is the contact ID a user would disclose in order for other Sekur users to be added. The service comes with a self-destruct timer and other features as well, including Sekur's proprietary VirtualVaults and HeliX technologies with all data stored in Swiss hosted encrypted servers.
Sekur's Data privacy solutions are all hosted in Switzerland, protecting users' data from any outside data intrusion requests. In Switzerland, the right to privacy is guaranteed in article 13 of the Swiss Federal Constitution. The Federal Act on Data Protection ("FADP") of 19 June 1992 (in force since 1993) has set up a strict protection of privacy by prohibiting virtually any processing of personal data which is not expressly authorized by the data subjects. The protection is subject to the authority of the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner.
Under Swiss federal law, it is a crime to publish information based on leaked "secret official discussions." In 2010, the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland found that IP addresses are personal information and that under Swiss privacy laws they may not be used to track internet usage without the knowledge of the individuals involved.
About Sekur Private Data Ltd. Sekur Private Data Ltd. is a cybersecurity and Internet privacy provider of Swiss hosted solutions for secure and private communications. The Company distributes a suite of encrypted e-mails, secure messengers and secure communication tools. Sekur Private Data Ltd. sells its products through its own website, https://www.sekur.com, approved distributors and telecommunications companies worldwide. Sekur Private Data Ltd. serves consumers, businesses and governments worldwide.
About Advanced Vision Advanced Vision is a system integrator for Smart Building Operational Solutions, Combining Hardware and Software elements of access control, security & surveillance and artificial intelligence to design custom-made solutions depending on client's requirements.
Founded 2005 in Abu Dhabi-UAE, Advanced Vision provides solutions that include complete study and analysis of project phases from planning, feasibility studies, engineering design, equipment/system supply and installation to start-up and commissioning.
On behalf of Management SEKUR PRIVATE DATA LTD. Alain Ghiai President and Chief Executive Officer +1.416.644.8690 corporate@sekurprivatedata.com
Forward-Looking Information This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-Looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "project" and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guaranteeing future performance. Sekur cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Sekur's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the future of the Company's business; the success of marketing and sales efforts of the Company; the projections prepared in house and projections delivered by channel partners; the Company's ability to complete the necessary software updates; increases in sales as a result of investments software development technology; consumer interest in the Products; future sales plans and strategies; reliance on large channel partners and expectations of renewals to ongoing agreements with these partners; anticipated events and trends; the economy and other future conditions; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in Sekur's prospectus dated May 8, 2019, filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available on www.sedarplus.ca. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Sekur undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.
