Secure HTTP software now available from EIT.

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 1994--In a news release made Tuesday at the Internet World trade show, Enterprise Integration Technologies (EIT) announced that an implementation of Secure HTTP, a World Wide Web transaction security protocol, is now available.

Secure HTTP (S-HTTP) is an enhancement to the Web HyperText Transfer Protocol that supports applications requiring confidentiality and authenticity.

In a separate news release, Terisa Systems, an EIT/RSA Data Security start-up, announced that Terisa's SecureWeb Toolkits, which include a commercial implementation of SecureHTTP, will be available to software developers in December 1994.

Most observers believe that security problems must be resolved before the World Wide Web and the Internet are ready for serious business use. S-HTTP provides for transaction security, which ensures confidentiality for information exchanged over open networks and the positive identification of correspondents during a spontaneous network transaction.

According to EIT's Chief Executive Officer Jay M. Tenenbaum, "Many companies have been asking for an open, flexible, industrial-strength security standard for electronic commerce. Any such standard must be freely available and must provide comprehensive functions that enable all types of commercial transactions to take place throughout the world on the Internet.

"S-HTTP is designed to fill these needs. We published the specification last June and have been testing it since August. It's now available to jump-start trials of electronic commerce."

S-HTTP incorporates public key cryptography from RSA Data Security in addition to supporting traditional shared-secret (also called password) and Kerberos-based security systems.

A fully-functional reference implementation of S-HTTP was released to members of CommerceNet this fall for use in electronic commerce. (A reference implementation of a software protocol illustrates its implementation and use.)

According to Cathy Medich, executive director of CommerceNet, "An open standard for secure transactions is key to the growth of electronic commerce on the Internet. CommerceNet member companies will use the S-HTTP reference implementation, as well as other technologies and standards as they become available, to field pilots of electronic commerce applications on the Internet."

S-HTTP is also being made available to NCSA (the National Center for Supercomputing Applications) at the University of Illinois for inclusion in future non-commercial versions of NCSA Mosaic.

Joseph Hardin, director of the group that developed NCSA Mosaic, said, "We're pleased to be working with an Internet security leader such as EIT. Secure HTTP provides the transaction security necessary to make the Web attractive for business and we see this as part of our future security framework for NCSA Mosaic."

In addition, EIT is presenting the protocol for consideration to the Internet Engineering Task Force, an arm of the Internet Society that develops technical Internet standards.

Enterprise Integration Technologies of Menlo Park, is an R&D and consulting organization developing software and services that help companies do business on the Internet. EIT is also the project manager of CommerceNet, the first large-scale market trial of electronic commerce on the Internet.

Additional information on Secure HTTP is available by accessing URL http://www.eit.com/projects/s-http/index.html. Those interested can also send e-mail to [e-mail]. Additional information on commercial implementation of Secure HTTP is available from Terisa Systems at URL http://www.terisa.com, by sending e-mail to [e-mail] or by telephoning 415/617-1836.

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Note to Editors: SecureWeb is a trademark of Enterprise Integration Technologies. NCSA Mosaic is a trademark of the University of Illinois.

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