Entrust Technologies' Announces Solution for Secure Internet Banking and Brokerage

Business Wire, Oct 6, 1997

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 6, 1997--

Entrust/Direct Is First Secure Online Banking Software Product

Based on Enterprise Public-Key Infrastructure

Entrust Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of Certification Authority (CA) and public-key management products, today announced a new adaptable software solution to secure financial services such as online banking and discount brokerage. Entrust/Direct(TM) is designed to afford banks and other financial institutions the ability to extend secure and confidential communications to their customers over the Internet.

Taking advantage of Entrust's(R) world-class public-key infrastructure (PKI) and its compatibility with today's most popular browsers, Entrust/Direct offers strong encryption, certificate-based authentication and key management services that eliminate the risk of web server impersonation. With this new software in place, users will be able to securely and easily review their bank accounts, transfer funds, pay bills, update their financial portfolio, buy insurance or buy and sell stocks and bonds all from their PC.

With Entrust/Direct, end users enter a password on their computer, but unlike most Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) implementations, the user's bank card or account number and password are never sent over the Internet. Instead, anonymous digital certificates are used to mutually authenticate the user and their financial institution. And because the Internet is used, banks don't have to provide expensive dial-up facilities.

"The number of financial institutions looking to provide online banking and brokerage services to its customers continues to grow at a phenomenal pace," said John Ryan, Entrust Technologies' president and chief executive officer. "Entrust/Direct enables these businesses the opportunity to provide convenient, personalized services to its customers while providing them with a secure, easy-to-use system that is more cost effective than other methods available today."

Entrust Technologies designed, developed and pioneered this advanced security solution with Scotiabank, one of North America's largest financial services companies with operations worldwide. "Scotiabank actively supported the development of this leading edge technology because it offers a truly customer-focused solution to people's concerns about doing business with us over the Internet," said Albert E. Wahbe, Scotiabank's executive vice president of operations.

Scotiabank successfully implemented Entrust/Direct last September as part of its Scotia OnLine service and has quickly become a leader in the issuance of public-key certificates from its two Entrust-based Certification Authorities.

Entrust/Direct is based on sound and proven cryptography, and allows customer to control their security. Among its advantages, Entrust/Direct addresses the threats of web site spoofing and identity theft.

Entrust/Direct supports Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator browsers and is designed to work across existing Web-based applications, making it simple to implement for banks and their customers . This latest product offering further enhances Entrust's reputation as a world-leader in the data security market while adding to its family of award-winning products.

Additional product features and benefits include:

-- easy to install client software;

-- users are automatically protected from Web site spoofing during

initialization;

-- transaction information is encrypted with strong 128-bit

encryption keys for privacy across the Internet;

-- users certificates and public keys do not contain user names or

bank identification providing user anonymity on the Internet;

-- software can be customized to adapt to a financial institutions'

existing application environment;

-- same infrastructure can be used for enterprisewide security (i.e.

secure email, secure eforms, secure remote access, single sign-on

etc.);

-- end user software can be customized by financial institutions to

increase brand awareness and promote brand visibility on the desktop.

Pricing and Availability

Entrust Technologies' complete Internet banking and brokerage solution will be available in November, 1997 and is volume priced at $20 US per user for a quantity of 10,000 users.

Entrust Technologies is dedicated to ensuring the privacy and authenticity data communications enterprise-wide. Its award-winning public-key infrastructure technology combines encryption and digital signature capabilities with fully automated key management. Widely used by financial institutions, government agencies and high-tech corporations, the Entrust software family provides a complete security solution across multiple platforms for desktops, corporate networks, intranets and the Internet. Entrust Technologies is headquartered in Richardson, TX with offices in New York, California, North Carolina, Virginia, Ottawa, Ontario and London, U.K. and is a majority-owned subsidiary of Nortel (Northern Telecom).

Visit Entrust Technologies' Web site at http://www.entrust.com