VeriSign Achieves U.S. Department of Defense
External Certificate Authority Accreditation
New VeriSign ECA Service Enables Secure Transactions with Federal,
State and Local Agencies
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA. – June 10, 2005 - VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq:
VRSN), the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure services for
the Internet and telecommunications networks, today announced that it
has been accredited by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as a supplier
of digital certificate services under the External Certificate Authority
(ECA) program, enabling individuals, organizations and contractors to
securely communicate with U.S. government agencies. VeriSign-issued
ECA digital certificates provide added layers of security to enable
access to protected government Web sites and enable security for a variety
of applications including email, remote access, and digitally-signed
documents and electronic forms.
To achieve ECA accreditation, VeriSign was required
to demonstrate that its ECA Certificate Practices Statement complies
with stringent ECA certificate policies. VeriSign also successfully
completed interoperability testing at the DoD Joint Interoperability
Test Center.
The new VeriSign® ECA service is an enhancement of
the VeriSign® Interim External Certificate Authority (IECA) service,
which VeriSign has been operating since 1999 under an agreement with
the DoD. The IECA service was restricted to use by contractors, trading
partners and other non-DoD entities needing to securely communicate
with the DoD. However, the VeriSign ECA service is now available
to a broad spectrum of users conducting business with Federal, state
and local governments, including: individuals, employees of businesses,
employees of state and local governments, and employees of foreign governments
and organizations. The VeriSign ECA service will provide enhanced features
such as multi-year certificates, hardware tokens, key escrow and Trusted
Agent services, and will also include OCSP certificate validation using
the VeriSign Trusted Global Validation Service (TGV). VeriSign ECA will
be the first use of TGV by primarily U.S.-government-relying parties.
“The VeriSign ECA service will meet the federal government’s
e-Authentication requirements for levels 3 and 4 (medium and high assurance
levels) and will provide interoperability with many external entities
through the cross-certification of ECA with the Federal Bridge Certification
Authority,” said George Schu, vice president, Public Sector, VeriSign.
“We are pleased to be an approved ECA service provider and anticipate
that many federal, state and local government agencies will want to
capitalize on the extensive DoD efforts in developing the ECA program.”
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 www.verisign.com.
For more information, contact:
VeriSign Media Relations: Jennifer Schmidt, jschmidt@verisign.com,
703-948-4475
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 and potential fluctuations in quarterly
operating results due to such factors as the inability of VeriSign to
successfully develop and market new products and services and customer
acceptance of any new products or services, including VeriSign's External
Certificate Authority program, the possibility that VeriSign’s announced
new services may not result in additional customers, profits or revenues;
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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