``Revolutionary'' CryptoNotary- Registration Authority Network to be Unveiled At Las Vegas Notary Conference.

Business Editors

CHATSWORTH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 26, 2000

A "new and revolutionary" method to send secure, authenticated documents through the Internet will be unveiled next month at the 22nd Annual National Notary Association Conference in Las Vegas.

The groundbreaking technology -- the CryptoNotary(R)-Registration Authority Network -- will be publicly introduced by ARCANVS Inc., a Salt Lake City high-tech corporation, which developed the unique system to allow transmission of sensitive documents without being compromised.

"We are very pleased ARCANVS selected the National Notary Association's Conference to introduce such a new and revolutionary system," said Milton G. Valera, president of the 150,000-member organization.

"As one of the country's few Licensed Certification Authorities, ARCANVS is at the forefront for providing e-commerce technology to many commercial and industrial sectors as well as professionals in the medical and health-care fields."

"Security and privacy have posed problems for individuals and companies who want to transmit sensitive documents electronically," said Gordon W. Romney, Ph. D., founding president of ARCANVS.

"In the world of e-commerce, it becomes essential to positively identify the sender, know the document is authentic, ensure the document be kept confidential and provide assurance that the document is read only by the intended receiver."

ARCANVS, acting as a third-party certification authority, provides the service of authenticating the identity of the owner, who uses an electronic key to create a Digital Signature through its "CryptoNotary(R)-Registration Authority Network."

The technology used to transmit such digitally signed documents on the Internet is known as a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). ARCANVS holds the patent process whereby a Notary Public applies a digital signature in a notarial capacity to authenticate electronic documents.

With PKI, the signer is recognized by a public and private key pair, which is established through the certification authority, who screened the signer prior to issuing a digital certificate.

The recipient verifies the digital signature with the sender's public key to ensure the sender signed the message and then checks with the certification authority to ensure that the public key is registered to the individual who digitally signed the message.

"In addition, the signature is linked not only to the signer's identity, but also to the document itself," said Romney. "If the encrypted message was tampered with after transmission, the two documents will not match and the receiver will know the document is not authentic."

The sender can take an additional step to encrypt the message, ensuring the contents remain confidential. An intruder who intercepts an encrypted message will not be able to read the document since the document text will appear as gibberish.

Digital certificates are used currently in a few industries. However, once more states begin to enact electronic document transfer laws, the CryptoNotary(R)-Registration Authority Network will allow individuals and companies to notarize documents digitally instead of with a pen and ink stamp. Romney noted that sensitive documents would then be transferred at the speed of an Internet connection.

The theme of this year's NNA Conference is "Securing Identity in the 21st Century," aptly named because of advancing fraud techniques that can hinder the identification of document signers. Properly identifying signers is the cornerstone of the notarial act.

Since 1957, the National Notary Association has been the primary source for Notary education, service and advocacy in the United States. It is the largest and oldest notarial organization of its kind. Since its inception, the NNA has established fundamental procedures and ethical guidelines for Notaries.