IBM Breaks Out the World's Most Secure Business PCs; IBM Delivers Hardware and Software for Unprecedented e-business Transaction Security

Business Wire, Sept 28, 1999

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--September 28, 1999--

IBM(a) today announced the world's most secure commercial PCs, making it that much tougher for unauthorized users to access personal data, even if a PC is hacked into or stolen. The new IBM models feature leading-edge technologies such as an industry-first embedded security chip on the motherboard, and smart card access and encryption. These technologies will give customers additional levels of security and protection for the data and information they work with on their PCs.

Available on new models of the IBM PC 300PL commercial systems, the new IBM Client Security Solutions offer businesses several ways to protect confidential files, internal networks and Internet transactions.

"As more client devices utilize the Internet for business-to-business transactions, secure, verifiable data from the client becomes a priority for the implementation of e-business," said Joseph Ferlazzo, vice president, syndicated services, Technology Business Research. "However, such utilization also drives the risk of data corruption back down to the client, so businesses need to know that they are operating with a stable platform and secure data."

In a business world increasingly influenced by the Internet, data security and information protection has never been more important. The number of customers conducting e-business transactions has risen dramatically. According to IDC for example, the number of people in the U.S. participating in at least one on-line banking function, such as reviewing deposits, transferring money between accounts, and paying bills rose to 12.4 million in 1999 from 1.4 million in 1996, and that number is expected to surpass 18 million by the end of the year. In the business world, those numbers are multiplied many times over.

According to the fourth annual "Computer Crime and Security Survey (1)," more than 62 percent of respondents reported computer security breaches within the last twelve months. Of these security breaches, 55 percent was unauthorized access by company insiders and 30 percent was system penetration by outsiders.

To a lesser extent is actual hardware theft a widespread problem for most customers. While the theft of a PC or mobile computer is inconvenient and costly, the theft or compromise of the actual data is a far greater exposure, and IBM's new security technologies introduced today are designed to help customers better protect the information that runs their business.

"IBM is providing customers with several levels of technology that can increase information security and improve ease of use based on existing, industry security protocols," said Phil Hester, chief technology officer, IBM Personal Systems Group. "Businesses can now confidently provide authorized users with access to information and roll-out new applications in a secure way, without compromising user privacy. E-business transactions depend on trust, and these solutions are designed to reinforce it."

New IBM PC 300PL

The new IBM PC 300PL models announced today feature the unique embedded Security Chip on the system board. The embedded Security Chip is a cryptographic microprocessor that supports functions such as key encryption for privacy and digital signatures for authentication or user identification. Requiring the embedded Security Chip and proper PIN code, the new IBM Client Security Solutions provides two levels of security.

There are several benefits to the embedded Security Chip

including:

-- digital keys are encrypted and stored using the embedded Security

Chip -- e-mail messages can be signed with a digital signature assuring

the receiver of the sender's identity -- the keys used to encrypt the e-mail messages are securely sent to

the receiver using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) key exchange -- private key operations such as digital signatures and key

exchange are executed within the embedded Security Chip -- secure data encryption protects against improper access to

confidential material located on your PC or networked file server -- support for privacy -- the user controls personalization and

trust relationships, and no identification number is placed on

the PC

In addition, new IBM PC 300PL models offer integrated client-based authentication and authorization policy software, User Verification Manager (UVM). The UVM utility is an application that is used to set up user identity and determine access rights and privileges. The policy is created by IBM Policy Director(a) software and distributed to the client, which can then operate independently from the network.

Another security feature that IBM will market is an IPSec Network Interface Card with Wake on LAN(a) and Alert on LAN(a)2 functionality, providing customers with added protection for sensitive data without compromising manageability. Internet Protocol Security is the newest technology to emerge from the IBM/Intel Advanced Manageability Alliance, which continues to deliver the latest standards-based solutions to the market.