Certicom to Partner with NIST to Develop Specifications for a Public Key Infrastructure; Certicom signs agreement with NIST to contribute cryptographic expertise.TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 9, 1996--Certicom Corp. ("Certicom") (CDN (Content Delivery Network) A system of distributed content on a large intranet or the public Internet in which copies of content are replicated and cached throughout the network. :CERT), a leading information security company, today announced that it will participate in an initiative by the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology National Institute of Standards and Technology, governmental agency within the U.S. Dept. of Commerce with the mission of "working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements, and standards" in the national interest. (NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. ) which will lead to the development of the elements of a public key infrastructure (PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) A framework for creating a secure method for exchanging information based on public key cryptography. The foundation of a PKI is the certificate authority (CA), which issues digital certificates that authenticate the identity of ). A PKI will enable individuals and organizations who have never met to electronically send and receive documents which have been digitally signed Any message or key that has been encrypted with a digital signature. When a user's public key is digitally signed by a certification authority (CA), it is known as a digital certificate or digital ID. See digital signature and digital certificate. . NIST announced today that it is partnering with several companies who bring specialized experience in providing products or services related to PKI components. "Certicom is excited about the establishment of this PKI project. It represents a proactive initiative by the Commerce Department to develop standards based on existing technology and commercial and government requirements by soliciting the active participation of key industry players," said Skip Hirsh, Director of U.S. Government Marketing for Certicom. "The strong leadership position taken by NIST will accelerate the deployment of practical public key infrastructures essential for the secure exchange of electronic data." "Certicom will contribute significant cryptographic experience to the partnership, particularly with the Elliptic Curve In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a smooth, projective algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point O. An elliptic curve is in fact an abelian variety—that is, it has a multiplication defined algebraically with respect to which it is an Cryptosystem (ECC (1) (Error-Correcting Code) A type of memory that corrects errors on the fly. See ECC memory. (2) (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) A public key cryptography method that provides fast decryption and digital signature processing. ) which is the most efficient public key technology available," commented Gary Hughes, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Certicom. "ECC is a critical, enabling technology for this NIST project because of its efficiency in the high volume applications that are common in PKIs." Hughes added, "Certicom is also participating because of its experience in the development and use of certification authorities which will be an important part of a PKI since they are used to verify the identity of users." Other partners that NIST has signed cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) with include: AT&T Government Markets, BBN (BBN Technologies, Cambridge, MA, www.bbn.com) A consulting firm that participated in the development of some of the most extensive networks in the world, including ARPANET, which evolved into the Internet. It was founded in 1948 as a consulting service in acoustics by Dr. Corp., Cylink Corp., DynCorp Information & Technology Inc., Information Resource Engineering Inc., Motorola, Northern Telecom Ltd. (Nortel), SPYRUS, Inc. and VeriSign, Inc. The goal of the partnership is to develop a minimum interoperability specification for the technical components of a PKI. The results will be shared with participating companies, the appropriate standards-making bodies, federal government agencies and industry organizations that are working on aspects of PKI development. A public key infrastructure relies on public key cryptography An encryption method that uses a two-part key: a public key and a private key. To send an encrypted message to someone, you use the recipient's public key, which can be sent to you via regular e-mail or made available on any public Web site or venue. in which each user has a key pair consisting of a public and private key. The public key must be digitally signed by a central authority to ensure its authenticity. Digital signatures are cryptographic techniques which are used for data integrity, authentication and nonrepudiation. The process of digitally signing public keys is known as certification and is the main purpose of a public key infrastructure. Certicom expects to demonstrate the benefits ECC provides to large-scale PKIs in which numerous users are signing and verifying documents. Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems have the highest strength per bit of any known public key system, minimizing the requirement for large key sizes. Cryptographic processes based on ECC provide efficient computation techniques which reduce communications and computation time, thereby substantially reducing costs. Certicom is a developer of information security products and technologies and is the leader in Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems, the world's most efficient public key technology. The company specializes in applications where the combination of cryptographic strength and high efficiency are critical. Certicom's primary markets are in wireless, smart cards, banking and electronic commerce over the Internet. Certicom shares are quoted on the Canadian Dealing Network Canadian Dealing Network (CDN) The organized OTC market of Canada. Formerly known as the Canadian Over-the-Counter Automated Trading System (COATS), the CDN became a subsidiary of the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1991. under the symbol "CERT." Visit Certicom's home page at www.certicom.ca. -0- Note To Editors: For more information on the NIST initiative, please refer to the NIST press release: "NIST, Industry Partners to Develop Specifications for Public Key Infrastructure," July 9, 1996. CONTACT: Certicom Corp., Toronto Jennifer Vancini, 905/507-4220 jvancini@certicom.ca or Miller/Shandwick Technologies Anne Gowan gow·an n. Scots A yellow or white wildflower, especially the Old World daisy. [Probably alteration of Middle English gollan, a plant with yellow flowers; akin to Old Norse or Sheri Dupart, 415/962-9550 agowan@millerwest.com sdupart@millerwest.com |
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