nCipher Becomes First Hardware Cryptographic Service Provider for Microsoft Windows 2000 Certificate Server.

Business/Technology Editors

RSA Conference 2000

San Jose, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2000

Validating the Important Option for Customers to Store Private Keys

in a Hardware-Based Security Environment

RSA Security Conference, Booth # 623--nCipher Inc., the leading developer of high-performance hardware security products for e-commerce and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) applications, today announced that the company's nForce(TM) and nShield(TM) hardware security modules are compatible with the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows 2000(R) operating system, Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) Web server and Microsoft Certificate Server. nForce and nShield are the first hardware security modules signed by Microsoft to support its Certificate Server PKI (CSP) software. nCipher's family of Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) includes nForce (formerly nFast(R)/KM), nShield (formerly nFast(R)/CA) and nFast(R), the company's industry-leading SSL acceleration product for Web servers.

"Windows 2000 is the ideal platform for enabling secure and manageable e-business operations," said Brian Valentine, senior vice president, Windows Division, Microsoft Corporation. "For anyone building an e-commerce infrastructure around Microsoft's Windows 2000, Internet Information Server and Microsoft Certificate Server PKI application software, nCipher's products offer a powerful plug and play enhancement delivering both speed and security."

nForce and nShield have achieved this compatibility through nCipher's development of a CSP for Microsoft's CryptoAPI. This enables nCipher to offer hardware security products that are "plug and play" with Microsoft server applications and operating systems, eliminating the need for custom or specialized interfaces. Windows 2000 developers may now easily incorporate the security and performance benefits of nCipher's HSMs into their applications.

"Security is the foundation upon which all e-commerce is based," said Rich Kosinski, senior vice president of sales and marketing of nCipher. "Microsoft's CSP software will allow companies to build powerful security systems to safeguard e-commerce. By making it easy to incorporate hardware products into an e-commerce infrastructure, Microsoft is ensuring that an e-commerce system developed around its products delivers both speed and security."

By using nCipher's nShield and nForce products, customers deploying PKI applications using Microsoft products can now easily add hardware to their security system for the best protection against a wide array of security risks. The combination of nForce and nShield hardware solutions with Microsoft's software applications is especially valuable in protecting against key-finding attacks and other forms of security breaches that can place e-commerce systems at risk. By incorporating nCipher's hardware into an e-commerce infrastructure, critical information such as cryptographic keys are removed from a server's disk storage and held in a virtually unbreachable hardware peripheral. This removes the possibility of unauthorized access to cryptographic keys and, ultimately, secures company and customer information while ensuring fast processing of e-commerce transactions.

About nForce and nShield

nForce provides secure key management capabilities combined with powerful and flexible acceleration of cryptographic key processing for e-commerce transaction servers and other PKI-enabled applications. nForce offers secure key protection in hardware and complete lifecycle key management. Smart card tokens are supported as a secure means of controlling access to keys.

nShield provides both transaction acceleration and the highest standard of secure hardware key management. nShield has been validated to FIPS 140-1 Level 3. Its tamper-resistant physical hardening combined with full key management functionality makes nShield ideally suited to Certificate Authorities and other secure PKI applications.

Availability

Full integration will be complete for customers within the United States during first quarter 2000. An identical release of software with the same strength of cryptography is intended to be made available later in 2000 for international use, upon satisfactory completion of regulatory requirements with the United States Government.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device.

About nCipher

Founded in 1996, nCipher is the leading provider of high-performance hardware security products specifically designed for e-commerce and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) applications. nCipher's family of products accelerate secure transactions and provide secure key management capabilities for organizations with high volumes of security sensitive transactions. nCipher customers include many of the world's leading financial institutions, e-retailers, service providers (ISPs/ASPs) and government agencies. With offices in Cambridge, UK; Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.; San Mateo, Calif.; Paris, France; and Hamburg, Germany, nCipher serves customers and partners around the world.

For more information on nCipher products and services, please visit our Web site at http://www.ncipher.com.

nFast is a registered trademark of nCipher. nForce and nShield are trademarks of nCipher.

Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.