Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Wed, March 25, 2009
Tue, March 24, 2009
VeriSign, Inc.: VeriSign Unveils Platform for National Public Key Infrastructure
LONDON--(Marketwire - March 24, 2009) - Governments around the world are looking to implement more efficient e-services for citizens and need to ensure that the various programs -- and the methods used to access them -- are secure, reliable and scalable enough to serve millions of users, a challenge few providers can meet.
Today, VeriSign, Inc. (
The new VeriSign® PKI Platform is an in-premise solution modeled after the same PKI architecture that VeriSign has deployed as a managed service for thousands of customers around the world. This deployment model allows governments throughout Europe, Asia, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East to adapt to specialized security requirements that may be placed on such critical national infrastructure.
The VeriSign PKI Platform gives governments a way to offer citizens fast and easy access to e-services such as health and welfare programs, e-passports, and national ID programs. PKI plays a critical role in e-government by allowing countries to leverage authentication, encryption, and digital signature technologies when issuing identity certificates, business certificates, and device certificates. The trust enabled by these certificates helps governments streamline operations, minimize the risk of fraud and waste, and disseminate information more easily and securely.
Since 1995, VeriSign has issued and managed tens of millions of PKI certificates for thousands of customers throughout the world, primarily through its managed services offerings. But recently, VeriSign has implemented several nationwide solutions with local partners, including:
-- Greek Ministry of Interior. The Greek government's e-Gateway uses digital signatures to authenticate citizens and secure certain electronic transactions -- Receita Federal Brazil. Tax card in Brazil enables citizens to securely send income tax submissions via the Internet using PKI
The scalable and extensible VeriSign PKI Platform builds on those implementations, to provide a robust, comprehensive solution for national PKI deployments. Governments can manage their own certificates, with end-to-end control over millions of end user digital certificates on a global scale. VeriSign also supports easy, rapid deployment of PKI applications and strong authentication using smart cards across major Web browsers and platforms -- an advantage for governments aiming to simplify high-volume delivery of PKI digital certificates and applications via the latest generation of smart cards.
The solution also is designed to make it easy for governments to deploy today and to expand their use of PKI, adding new devices and services without having to redesign their PKI architecture.
"For years, we have worked with VeriSign to provide PKI solutions to governments and enterprises of all sizes," said Panos Vassiliadis, General Manager at ADACOM S.A., a VeriSign Certified Affiliate and the sole PKI services provider for the Greek Public Sector. "We are excited to expand our PKI portfolio as VeriSign launches its on-premise PKI platform, which will provide to even more governments applications the flexibility, performance, and scalability with high availability and security they require."
"By implementing strong authentication, encryption, and digital signature technologies, governments can significantly reduce the risk of forgery, theft, or abuse of identification credentials," said Phil D'Angio, director of business development at VeriSign. "The VeriSign® PKI Platform leverages a decade of PKI leadership to deliver a solution that meets the needs of governments today and well into the future. Governments around the world can rely on this new platform to help improve availability and security of government transactions, but we think it is equally important that users can leverage their credentials with non-government service providers like banks, social networks, and in e-commerce. We help drive that cross-over use case and value proposition through our extensive industry partnerships."
For more information on the VeriSign PKI Platform, visit: [ www.verisign.com/national-pki ]
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (
Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results due to such factors as the inability of VeriSign to successfully develop and market new products and services and customer acceptance of any new products or services, including the VeriSign PKI Platform; the possibility that VeriSign's announced new services may not result in additional customers, profits or revenues; and increased competition and pricing pressures. More information about potential factors that could affect the company's business and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.
© 2009 VeriSign, Inc. All rights reserved. VeriSign, the VeriSign logo, the checkmark circle, and other trademarks, service marks, and designs are registered or unregistered trademarks of VeriSign, Inc., and its subsidiaries in the United States and in foreign countries. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
