VeriSign Outlines Roadmap for Consumer Authentication
and Protection Against Identity Theft at Digital ID World 2005
SAN FRANCISCO, CA. – Digital ID World 2005 – May
10, 2005 – VeriSign, Inc., (Nasdaq: VRSN), the leading provider of
intelligent infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications
networks, today unveiled a technology roadmap for the implementation
of strong authentication to help prevent consumer identity theft on
the Internet. The roadmap is a key component of the VeriSign vision
to make two-factor authentication affordable and ubiquitous, and to
provide the most effective method to ensure the growth of e-commerce
and protect against malicious online attacks.
Nico Popp, vice president, Authentication Services,
VeriSign, will describe this roadmap later today during a keynote at
the Digital ID World conference in San Francisco. Popp will introduce
a layered approach to identity protection and discuss strong authentication
as a key defense. The keynote will also cover the VeriSign® Unified
Authentication platform and family of tokens. VeriSign will demonstrate
both at booth #15.
“No single technology can holistically combat digital
identity theft. A layered defense to protecting users, desktops, Web
sites and data repositories is mandatory, with strong authentication
comprising only one element in a complete line of defense.” said Nico
Popp. “Strong authentication is essential to the continued growth of
e-commerce and business productivity, but it must be affordable for
enterprises to deploy on a large scale. VeriSign Unified Authentication,
an open-standards-based, cost effective solution, makes this possible.
By presenting our layered approach to a comprehensive identity-theft
solution, VeriSign is evangelizing actionable models that can bring
this critical technology to consumers.”
According to recently released figures from the Federal
Trade Commission, identity theft affects approximately 10 million Americans
each year. The Identity Theft Resource Center reports that victims
spend an average of 600 hours and $1,400 in out-of-pocket expenses recovering
from identity theft. Contributing to these figures is a rising
trend of online vandals combining to form virtual organized crime units,
spreading Trojan horses, spam, viruses and other malware for profit.
The VeriSign roadmap presents models of how financial
institutions, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and e-merchants can
implement consumer authentication in a cost effective and simple way,
using existing solutions. Popp’s keynote presents various deployment
options that break through some of the usability hurdles that have been
limiting the adoption of two-factor authentication on the Internet.
The proposed models map out scenarios in which consumers carry only
one security device to strongly authenticate across multiple online
accounts such as an ISP, an online bank, a brokerage account or an online-health
service.VeriSign also released a whitepaper today detailing the layered
approach to identity theft protection. To access a copy of the paper,
please go to: http://www.verisign.com/static/029726.pdf
About
VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN) operates intelligent infrastructure services
that enable businesses and individuals to find, connect, secure and
transact across today’s complex global networks. Additional news and
information about the company is available at http://www.verisign.com/
For more information, contact:
VeriSign Media Relations: Brendan Lewis, brlewis@verisign.com,
650-426-4470
VeriSign Investor Relations: Tom McCallum, tmccallum@verisign.com,
650-426-3744
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, the uncertainty
of future revenue and profitability, potential fluctuations in quarterly
operating results, and increased competition and pricing pressures.
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, including in the company's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and quarterly
reports on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any
of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.
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