NCIPHER PROVIDES ADVANCED E-SECURITY MODULE.

nCipher plc (LSE:NCH), a provider of cryptographic IT security solutions, recently announced the interoperability of its nForce secure e-commerce accelerators with Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000. The interoperability of the nForce family with ISA Server provides customers with a convenient path to cost effectively enhance the hardware server platform to more securely and more efficiently handle the advanced security functions performed by ISA Server.

At the heart of ISA Server, an extensible enterprise firewall and Web cache server that enables secure, fast and manageable Internet connectivity, is the ability to protect information through the use of encryption and other cryptographic techniques. The use of cryptography in mission critical systems presents a number of challenges. Firstly, it significantly slows down processing capabilities, requiring ISA Server to dedicate critical processing power to process secure traffic, therefore reducing system capacity. Secondly, additional measures need to be taken to protect the secret encryption keys that become a target for hackers and cyber-criminals in order to better ensure the privacy and authenticity of online transactions and information flows.

nCipher's nForce security modules work hand-in-hand with ISA Server to significantly accelerate secure transactions by off-loading the SSL processing from the host CPU and protecting the cryptographic keys safely within a tamper resistant, physically hardened, secure memory device. In applications where security is less critical but performance issues are still a concern, Microsoft has also approved the nCipher nFast SSL accelerator for use with ISA server.

"Developing secure, fast Internet connectivity is critical to the success of business-to-business e-commerce, and the implementation of ISA Server will help accelerate the adoption of secure e-commerce applications," said Guy Friedel, business development manager for ISA Server at Microsoft Corp. "One of the biggest advantages of ISA Server is its ability to combine firewall and cache in a single device, therefore improving performance, space utilization and reducing administrative costs. If customers are forced to add extra servers to handle high traffic loads, part of that advantage is lost. I am pleased that the nCipher nFast and nForce products have completed interoperability testing and are available to our customers as they deploy highly scalable and yet secure e-business infrastructures."

"Cryptography in many guises is being applied to security critical applications in all elements of an enterprise network. ISA Server is a great example of how established functions such as content caching are becoming increasingly security aware," said Stu Vaeth, director of product marketing, nCipher. "As a market leader in providing advanced security components for Web servers, we have been able to respond rapidly to add support for ISA Server. Now customers can apply the same Federally validated (FIPS 140) security techniques to their firewall and caching infrastructure that have become firmly established as industry best practices across a host of e-business practices including e-payment networks, certificate authorities and secure databases."

Microsoft's Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 200 is an enterprise firewall and Web cache server that enables IT administrators for businesses of all sizes to provide controlled, secure and fast Internet access for their organizations. Building on the security and manageability of Microsoft's Windows 2000 platform, ISA Server provides a sophisticated multi-layer enterprise firewall and high-performance Web cache to control, secure and accelerate business on the Internet. ISA Server is part of Microsoft's Windows .NET platform, geared to empower companies of any size to Internet-enable their businesses and to allow developers to build products for the next generation of services that will be available on the Web.