AssureNet Pathways Announces New Software Security Token and Defended Security System Enhancements; Enables Network Managers to Easily Authenticate Windows 95/NT Users and Deploy a Multi-level Network Access Security Management System with Extensive Reports.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 1996--AssureNet Pathways, Inc. (formerly Digital Pathways, Inc.), today announced a new 32-bit version of the company's leading Software SecureNet Key token that supports Windows 95 and Windows NT users.

AssureNet Pathways sells an estimated 90 percent of the worldwide market for embedded software tokens for network access security and is the first to deliver an embedded software token for the Windows NT platform.

The company also announced new versions of its Defender Security Server and Defender Management Software, providing the benefits of centralized, enterprise-wide user authentication while enabling network managers to decentralize the administration of designated user groups.

The Defender Management Software has also been enhanced to provide up to 20 different security reports, enabling network managers to monitor real-time for network intrusions, set up detailed bill-back systems, and easily balance system loads.

"We are pleased to be delivering the critical network security solutions business customers require," said Ted Haynes, vice president of product marketing for AssureNet Pathways.

"The new software token, combined with an even more robust Defender Security Server and Defender Management Software, enables customers to assure strong network security while making authentication and network access control easy for both users and security managers."

Software SecureNet Key for Windows 95 and Windows NT, Version 3.5

The Software SecureNet Key for Windows 95 and Windows NT, version 3.5 (SSNK 3.5), will support Windows 95 and both 3.51 and 4.0 versions of Windows NT. The SSNK 3.5 will replace AssureNet's SSNK 3.0 token, which supports only Windows 95. AssureNet will continue to offer embedded software tokens for Windows 3.11 with their SSNK 1.25 and for Macintosh with their SSNK for Apple Remote Access, version 1.35.

The SSNK 3.5 interoperates with the communication drivers in Windows 95 and Windows NT to make one-time password authentication as easy to use as traditional static passwords while providing security that is many orders of magnitude more secure. Transparently to the remote user, the software token performs a challenge-response authentication with the Defender Security Server on the corporate network.

The server issues an eight character challenge to the token and both compute a response based upon a 56-bit seed value unique to the particular token and encrypted in a secure package on the user's PC. The server compares the responses to authenticate the user and then grants access to the network. Responses are computed using the widely tested and used Data Encryption Standard (DES) algorithm.

Defender Security Server and Defender Management Software

The new versions of AssureNet's Defender Security Server and Defender Management Software allow a master security supervisor to delegate administration of designated user groups to subordinate supervisors across a worldwide network.

User groups may correspond to users who access a specific Defender Security Server in one location or may be spread over multiple servers that they share with other groups.

"Our multi-national customers want central control over security policies and overall user administration but they want to assign the day-to-day addition and deletion of users to supervisors who are close to specific user groups," said Haynes.

Updates made to Defender Management Software anywhere in the world are immediately sent over a robust TCP/IP connection to the central user database and to the Defender Security Servers that authenticate users requesting network access. Local supervisors can program either handheld tokens that users carry with them or the software tokens which users embed in a copy-protected secure package on their PCs.

Software tokens provide the same strong one-time password authentication as hardware tokens while being as easy to use as widely accepted but relatively insecure static passwords.

Defender Management Software (DMS) has also been enhanced to provide up to 20 different security reports. A few of the reports that can be generated include length of call, system load, inactive users, user violations and detailed billing by department. In addition, DMS can provide a wide range of options for configuring the Personal Identification Number (PIN) that users must create and use to activate their software tokens.

The PIN can range from eight mixed alpha and numeric characters to four numeric characters (like the hardware token) to no PIN at all (for authenticating PCs without requiring user authentication).

Defender Management Software runs on either Windows 3.11 or Windows 95 and supports AssureNet's hardware access control devices, the Defender S/P for a single port and the Defender M/P for multiple ports, as well as AssureNet's Defender Security Servers.

The new versions of Defender Security Server run on Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0, on both Intel x86 and Power PC hardware platforms or on Novell NetWare 3.12 and 4.x.

Availability & Pricing

The new SSNK 3.5 and updated Defender Security Server and Defender Management Software will be available in December 1996 through AssureNet's worldwide network of value-added resellers, distributors, and systems integrators.

The list price for each SSNK 3.5 token is $25. The Defender Security Server with Defender Management Software is $1,995. User licenses range from $40 per user for 2,500 users to $105 per user for 10 users. Starting in January, AssureNet will offer a program to upgrade customers from currently installed software tokens to the new SSNK 3.5 token.

For more information, please contact AssureNet Pathways by phone at 415/964-0707, by e-mail at [e-mail], or access AssureNet's Web site at www.assurenetpathways.com

About Defender Security Systems

AssureNet Pathways provides a broad range of enterprise-wide network security solutions. The award-winning Defender Security Systems include standards-based network security server software, software and hardware security tokens, and security management and auditing software.

Defender Security Systems authenticate users accessing a corporate network from any access point: through workstations on a local LAN, remotely through communications servers, and via the Internet through firewalls or the World Wide Web.

AssureNet Pathways Defender Security Systems authenticate users through a simple but reliable two-factor challenge/response process. The two factors are: 1) something the user knows, for example a PIN, and 2) something the user owns, such as an AssureNet Pathways SecureNet Key security token.

Each time a user requests network access, the Defender Security Server employs the proven DES algorithm to generate a password and challenge the user's SecureNet Key to match it before granting access. Since the passwords are created only as needed and used only once, they are virtually impossible to steal.

About AssureNet Pathways

AssureNet Pathways provides a broad range of network security solutions that protect enterprise-wide networks from unauthorized entry, tampering and theft of information and services. Backed by more than a decade of expertise in the network security, AssureNet Pathways products are the only standards-based security solutions available that are easy to use and manage, as well as cost-effective.

AssureNet Pathways customers include leading companies in electronics, finance, health services and communications industries. AssureNet Pathways is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with regional offices throughout the U.S., and in Basingstoke, U.K. The company's products are sold worldwide through a network of distributors, value-added resellers and systems integrators.

CONTACT: AssureNet Pathways, Inc.

Kathy Bower, 415/526-2217

[e-mail]