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TELUS and CIBC to form Canadian E-Commerce Digital Trust Services Provider

Burnaby, BC, Toronto, ON and Mountain View, CA, October 30, 2001 – TELUS and CIBC have entered into an agreement to establish a new, national e-commerce trust services provider that will serve as VeriSign, Inc.'s principal Canadian affiliate. VeriSign, the leading provider of digital trust services, will provide both technology and capital to the new entity formed by TELUS and CIBC. This new entity will provide web site security to enable secure e-commerce; enterprise authentication, which leverages VeriSign's public key infrastructure (PKI) to issue and manage digital credentials for signing transactions; and online merchant payment services, which facilitate settlement of transactions between buyers and sellers. 
 
This initiative forms an independent Canadian company that draws on the expertise of each partner to establish a trusted environment for wired and wireless transactions. TELUS and CIBC currently deliver PKI services in Canada as part of the VeriSign trust network, which uses common technology, operating practices and infrastructure to establish secure communications and transactions on the Internet. Under terms of the alliance, TELUS and CIBC will combine their PKI services to deliver a Canadian national trust infrastructure for secure online and wireless commerce.

"This transaction advances by over a year TELUS' plans for providing this crucial service to customers," says Mark Schnarr, TELUS executive-vice president and president, TELUS Ventures. "TELUS' investment in this new company is in line with our strategy of funding start-up businesses and emerging technology ventures that exploit the convergence of data, voice, IP and wireless and enable TELUS to provide its customers the best and most complete service."

"CIBC is recognized as a leader in the Canadian e-commerce marketplace by identifying new e-commerce opportunities and incubating and growing new ventures," said David Marshall, CIBC vice-chairman of e-commerce, operations and technology. "The success of CIBC's VeriSign powered PKI services over the past two years proves that our strategy is on the right track. Today's announcement that we are continuing that success and joining forces with TELUS – one of Canada's largest telecommunications companies – is simply the next logical step in the expansion of this business and the realization of our e-commerce vision."

"As small businesses and enterprises across Canada continue to deploy a broad range of e-commerce applications, the need for a national trust infrastructure becomes paramount," said Anil Pereira, senior vice president and group general manager, Enterprise and Service Provider Division, VeriSign. "The combination of two leading infrastructure providers, TELUS and CIBC combined with VeriSign's digital trust services will provide reach in every corner of the country and will accelerate wired and wireless e-commerce."

VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN) is the leading provider of digital trust services that enable everyone, everywhere to engage in commerce and communications with confidence. VeriSign's digital trust services create a trusted environment through three core offerings - web identity, authentication and payment services – powered by a global infrastructure that manages more than five billion network connections and transactions a day. Additional news and information about the company is available at www.verisign.com.

CIBC (TSE:CM, NYSE:BCM) is a leading North American financial institution offering more than eight million personal banking and business customers a full range of products and services through its comprehensive electronic banking network, branches and offices across Canada, in the United States and around the world. As the Canadian national affiliate of VeriSign, Inc., CIBC leverages the proven technological and managed expertise of global security leader VeriSign to bring Internet trust services to individuals and e-business marketplaces throughout Canada.

TELUS Corporation (TSE: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is one of Canada's leading telecommunications companies providing a full range of telecommunications products and services that connect Canadians to the world. The company is the leading service provider in Western Canada and provides data, Internet Protocol, voice and wireless services to Central and Eastern Canada. For more information about TELUS, visit www.telus.com.

TELUS Ventures manages TELUS' venture capital fund, targeting start-up businesses and emerging technology ventures consistent with TELUS' strategy to exploit the convergence of data, voice, IP and wireless.

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Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, VeriSign's limited operating history under its current business structure, failure of the Illuminet merger to close due to the failure to obtain regulatory or other approvals; failure of the Illuminet stockholders to approve the merger; the risk that the VeriSign and Illuminet businesses will not be integrated successfully and unanticipated costs of such integration; uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results; increased competition; risks associated with the company's international business and risks related to potential security breaches. More information about potential factors that could affect the company's business and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, especially in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000, Registration Statement on Form S-4 filed on October 10, 2001 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31 and June 30, 2001. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.

VeriSign is a registered trademark of VeriSign, Inc. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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