Entrust Announces New Code Signing Certificate Service.

Business Editors

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2001

ENTRUST (NASDAQ:ENTU)

Entrust.net Leverages Proven Technology to Deliver Higher Level of

Confidence in Web Transactions

Entrust Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTU), the leading provider of Trust Relationship Management(TM) solutions, today announced that Entrust.net Inc., the company's Web-services subsidiary, is now offering Code Signing Certificates as part of its digital certificate offerings.

This new service leverages proven Entrust technology, providing browsers and other applications with the ability to reject certificates that are deemed untrustworthy and have been revoked, such as wrongfully-issued certificates. Internet users can now conduct critical on-line transactions with a higher level of confidence and security.

Entrust.net Code Signing certificates enable organizations to digitally sign software and macros for secured delivery over the Internet. These certificates allow software publishers to embed their identity, their brand, in their software, allowing Internet users to make informed trust decisions when deciding whether or not to download and execute that software. Consumers or businesses downloading digitally-signed software from organizations that use Entrust.net Code Signing certificates can verify that this information originated from the organization identified in the certificate and has not been altered or tampered with since being signed, and that the certificate was issued by a trustworthy Certificate Authority (CA), one with rigorous and proven verification procedures.

Entrust.net was the first, and continues to be the only major certificate provider to work seamlessly with Microsoft's Auto CRL (Certificate Revocation List) capability. This important capability of the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser enables it to automatically check certificate revocation status. Certificate revocation is needed when a certificate is deemed no longer trustworthy at a point before its normal expiration date. In this case, the certificate's serial number is posted to a CRL, in a way similar to how the lists of compromised credit cards are handled (the 'hot' lists of bad cards).

Many CAs provide for certificate revocation and CRLs, but very few support Auto CRL checking: this means that users must know about CRLs, where to find them, and how to use them, before being able to trust a certificate. Entrust.net's support for Auto CRL checking means the IE browser will perform this crucial check automatically, without the user having to have any specialized knowledge or take any special steps.

"Code signing certificates are extremely important as they are used by businesses and consumers to verify which company supplied the software, giving Internet users confidence in the identity of the source of the software," said Brian O'Higgins, executive vice president and CTO, Entrust Technologies Inc. "When users choose to download and execute signed code on their computers, they choose to trust the company or person that created the code by recognizing the name on the certificate. This trust must be maintained, and if for any reason the code signing certificate needs to be revoked, it must be done quickly and it must be transparent to the end user."

On March 8, 2001, Entrust.net became the world's first Certificate Authority (CA) to meet the WebTrust for Certification Authorities (CAs) Seal of Assurance. The WebTrust program was developed jointly by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) and represents one of the most stringent benchmarks of Web site disclosure, security and control that a Public Certification Authority can achieve.

"The WebTrust seal of assurance underscores the trustworthiness of Entrust.net digital certificates, and in the case that a certificate is revoked, our integration with Microsoft's Auto CRL capability is vital to safeguarding against harm caused by invalid certificates and to maintaining a trusted relationship between end users and organizations," added Mr. O'Higgins.

Microsoft's Auto CRL checking fully recognizes Entrust.net's CRL list, which is implemented using Entrust Technologies' CRL Distribution Points technology (US patent 5,699,431). To assist in deploying such an important capability throughout the Internet environment, Entrust Technologies makes this innovation available to vendors who sign Entrust Technologies' royalty-free license.

Entrust.net Code Signing certificates fully support the Microsoft Authenticode platform for Internet Explorer v. 4.01, 5.01 and 5.5. Entrust.net plans to offer full support for Netscape Object Signing, Netscape's code signing application.

For more information on Entrust.net Code Signing certificates, please visit www.entrust.net/codesigning.

About Entrust.net Inc.

Entrust.net Inc. strengthens and extends the leadership position of Entrust Technologies Inc. in delivering Trust Relationship Management solutions over wireless networks and the Web. Entrust.net solutions include Web and wireless server certificates and digital signature solutions to help organizations lower costs and manage trusted e-business transactions between customers, partners and employees. Leveraging the strengths of Entrust Technologies' world-renowned security expertise and technologies, Entrust.net is committed to delivering premium customer service to complement our innovative trust solutions that continue to lead the industry. For more information about Entrust.net, please visit www.entrust.net.

Entrust is a registered trademark of Entrust Technologies Inc. in the United States and other countries. In Canada, Entrust is a registered trademark of Entrust Technologies Limited. All Entrust product names are trademarks of Entrust Technologies. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.