Business Services Industry

AICPA's WebTrust Standards for Certification Authorities Adopted by VeriSign, World's Leading Issuer of Digital Certificates

Business Wire, June 7, 2001

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 2001

WebTrust for CAs Harmonizes Audit Standard with ANSI X9.79 PKI

Technical Standard

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) announced today that VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN), the world's leading provider of Internet trust services, including digital certificates, has adopted the WebTrust standards for Certification Authorities (CAs) and received the WebTrust Seal of Assurance.

VeriSign's business practices, controls and procedures were independently examined for compliance with the WebTrust for Certification Authorities standards by the professional services firm of KPMG LLP. With the completion of the VeriSign engagement, more than 50% of the current business volume of digital certificates has been independently verified by WebTrust.

The WebTrust for Certification Authorities program includes Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) standards for the issuance of digital certificates so that users of these certificates can feel confident that the certificates are valid, credible and trustworthy.

"VeriSign, one of the world's leading Certification Authorities, is an important provider of trust and confidence in e-business," said Anthony Pugliese, Vice President of Member Innovation at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. "The standards of the WebTrust Program for Certification Authorities add additional trust to digital certificates -- the CPA independently tests the Certification Authority against the WebTrust standards, helping the Certification Authority align its business with the benchmark for good business practices in the process."

Because the WebTrust Program harmonizes the American National Standards Institute's X9.79 PKI standards used by CAs with the rigorous, measurable principles and criteria developed by the accounting profession for CAs, this has enabled widespread implementation and acceptance of WebTrust as the new industry standard for CAs.

"VeriSign is clearly establishing a benchmark for reliability in providing public key technology services by obtaining the WebTrust Seal for Certification Authorities," adds Pugliese. "Certification Authorities play an important role in building trust in e-commerce in a secure online environment, and VeriSign, along with other leading CAs like Entrust and Digital Signature Trust, is to be commended for successfully meeting the WebTrust standards and building the trust base necessary for e-commerce to reach its full potential."

Compliance with the WebTrust of Certification Authorities standards confirms that the CA maintains effective controls to provide reasonable assurance that:

- Subscriber and relying party information is properly authenticated,
restricted to authorized individuals, and protected from uses not related to
the CA's business

- The continuity of key and certificate life cycle management operations is
maintained

- CA systems development, maintenance, and operation are properly authorized
and performed to maintain CA systems integrity

About the AICPA

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is the ISO 9001 certified national professional organization of CPAs in the United States with more than 340,000 members in public practice, business and industry, government and education. For more information about WebTrust for Certification Authorities, please visit www.webtrust.org/certauth.htm.>