RSA Announces BCERT, Full-Featured Developer's Toolkit for Building Digital Certificates

Business Wire, Oct 1, 1996

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 1996--RSA Data Security, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Security Dynamics Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:SDTI), today announced the introduction of BCERT 1.0, a full-featured toolkit for building X.509 certificate management applications.

BCERT 1.0 is designed to provide support for the internationally recognized CCITT X.509 Digital Certificate, which is an electronic document used to prove identities and public-key ownership over a communications network. Each certificate contains the issuer's name, the user's public key and identifying information, and the issuer's RSA digital signature. This signature, which validates the certificate, also "seals" the certificate to prevent forgery or alteration. Until the availability of BCERT, building certificate management applications to provide this level of on-line security was an extremely complex process.

"CCITT X.509 certificate management, and the issues associated with digital notarization, have made certificate issuing a challenging undertaking for even the most experienced product development team," said Jim Bidzos, president of RSA. "Now, with RSA's new BCERT toolkit, development and management is simplified. With BCERT, developers can add full-functioned certificate issuing to most RSA-secured applications quickly and easily."

Next-Generation Architecture

BCERT is part of RSA's next-generation architecture, the Layered Open Crypto Toolkit (LOCT), which was announced in January at the 1996 RSA Data Security Conference in San Francisco. LOCT is RSA's strategic vision for all future security solutions and includes a framework for cryptographic engines, applications, application programming interfaces (APIs), and tools. Products resulting from LOCT are intended to provide developers with a more open, extensible and flexible environment that simultaneously enhances security and ease of use.

BCERT contains the cryptographic support necessary to generate certificate requests, sign certificates and create and distribute certificate revocation lists (CRLs). BCERT also interfaces with existing commercial certification services, such as those currently available from VeriSign and the U.S. Postal Service. In addition, BCERT is flexible enough to enable companies to define their own enterprise certification hierarchies, root keys, and notarization policies. BCERT features an object-oriented application programming interface for more efficient development. BCERT is also re-entrant, so it can be shared by multiple applications at the same time -- a necessity in today's multitasking operating environments.

Developers can use BCERT as a certificate engine for different types of certificate issuing applications, including certificate authorization and issuing centers, Internet electronic commerce and electronic payment systems, secure software distribution and copyright protection, secure World Wide Web applications, and non-repudiable digital signatures for electronic records, contracts, and files.

More than 250 companies worldwide have incorporated RSA's encryption technology into their products using the BSAFE cryptography toolkit, including Novell Netware, Netscape Navigator Browsers and Electronic Commerce Servers, Lotus Notes, Digital Internet Tunnel, Oracle SQL Net, Microsoft Windows 95, and many more.

Pricing/Availability

BCERT 1.0 is available in the U.S. and has a list price of $290.

RSA Data Security, Inc.

RSA Data Security, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Security Dynamics Technologies, Inc., is the world's brand name for cryptography, with more than 75 million copies of RSA encryption and authentication technologies installed and in use worldwide. RSA technologies are part of existing and proposed standards for the Internet and World Wide Web, IT4, ISO, ANSI, IEEE, and business, financial and electronic commerce networks around the globe. The company develops and markets platform-independent developer's kits and end-user products and provides comprehensive cryptographic consulting services. Founded in 1982 by the inventors of the RSA Public Key Cryptosystem, the company is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. -0-

Note to Editors: BSAFE and BCERT are trademarks of RSA Data Security, Inc. All other product and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: Patrick Corman, 415/326-9648

Corman@cerf.net