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[LOGO CANADA NEWSWIRE]
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News release via Canada NewsWire, Toronto 416-863-9350
[CERTICOM LOGO]
Attention Business Editors:
Certicom Announces Entrust Technologies Joins the Standards for
Efficient Cryptography Group (SECG)
International Companies CV Cryptovision and Scopus Tecnologia also
Join Growing Roster of United States and International Members
HAYWARD, CA, May 17 /CNW/ - Certicom (Nasdaq: CERT and TSE: CIC), a leading
provider of m-commerce security, today announced that Entrust Technologies Inc.
(Nasdaq: ENTU), CV Cryptovision and Scopus Tecnologia have joined the Standards
for Efficient Cryptography Group (SECG). The group was founded in December 1998
to develop the Standards for Efficient Cryptography (SEC), a family of
commercial standards that will specify completely interoperable, easily
implemented and cost-effective security solutions based on elliptic curve
cryptography (ECC) technology.
The SECG is a consortium of leading technology companies and key industry
players in the information security industry. Since its inception, the coalition
has addressed such issues as providing interoperability among cryptographic
standards developed by diverse organizations, the use of elliptic cryptography
in X.509 certificates, and the need for efficient security protocols and
certificate structures for use in the mobile and handheld device environments.
"Entrust has always supported and helped lead the standards work necessary
to drive e-business", said Dr. Carlisle Adams, senior cryptographer and head of
the standards program at Entrust Technologies, Inc. "Entrust is pleased to join
the SECG because we view the work done in this group as an important enabler for
interoperability of ECC in public-key infrastructure implementations."
The SECG & SEC Standards
The Standards for Efficient Cryptography Group was initiated to address the
difficulty vendors and users face when building and deploying interoperable
security solutions. The goals of the SECG include addressing the problems of
interoperability that are common to today's different cryptographic solutions
and enabling the effective incorporation of ECC technology into these varied
solutions. Additionally, the group aims to provide more efficient digital
certificate and public-key infrastructure (PKI) definitions than those currently
available. The SECG provides the critical standardization necessary for
widespread utilization of ECC in general PKI as well as in processing
power-constrained devices, such as PDAs and smart cards.
The SEC standards will enable developers to easily build secure
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applications in such areas as e-commerce and stock trading, wireless
communications, Internet access, on-line banking, smart cards and electronic
payment systems.
Current SECG Members
Members of the SECG include: 3Com, ABN-AMRO, American Express, Baltimore
Technologies, Certicom, CV Cryptovision, Deloitte & Touche, Diversinet, Entrust
Technologies, Ernst & Young, Fujitsu, Giesecke & Devrient, GlobeSet, GTE
CyberTrust, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi Ltd., Motorola, the National Institute of
Standards & Technology, NTT Electronics Corporation, Pitney Bowes, Rainbow
Technologies, Racal Security & Payments, Scopus Tecnologia S.A., Thawte
Consulting, Unisys Corporation, Visa International, VeriSign Inc. and Xcert
International. The group has also created a Cryptographic Advisory Board,
comprised of Dr. Ian Blake of University of Toronto, Simon Blake-Wilson of
Certicom, Dr. Dan Boneh of Stanford University, Don Johnson of Certicom, Dr.
Alfred Menezes of University of Waterloo, Dr. Larry Puhl of Motorola, Dr. Phil
Rogaway of University of California at Davis, Dr. Gadiel Seroussi of
Hewlett-Packard, Dr. Nigel Smart of University of Bristol and Dr. Scott Vanstone
of Certicom. Participation in both the SECG and the Advisory Board is open to
the public.
About Elliptic Curve Cryptography
Developed for a broad range of computing platforms and maximum
interoperability, Certicom's Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) technology
enables strong, high performance security for many pieces of the computing
infrastructure, including the new generation of small form-factor products such
as handheld computers, pagers, cell phones and smart cards. Certicom's patented
implementation of ECC technology provides a more efficient alternative to
conventional public key cryptographic algorithms in many mobile and wireless
environments, allowing for faster processing speed, reduced bandwidth usage and
decreased battery requirements. These advantages make Certicom's ECC-based
security technology particularly well suited to mobile devices that incorporate
less powerful processors, such as handheld computing devices, Internet-enabled
phones and two way pagers.
For more information about the SECG, please visit the group's Web site at
http://www.secg.org.
Certicom is a registered trademark of Certicom Corp. All other companies
and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders.
Except for historical information contained herein, this press release
contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual
results may differ materially. Factors that might cause a difference include,
but are not limited to, those relating to the acceptance of mobile and wireless
devices and the continued growth of e-commerce and m-commerce (mobile
e-commerce), the increase of the demand for mutual authentication in m-commerce
transactions, the acceptance of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) technology as
an industry standard, the market acceptance of our principle products and sales
of our customer's products, the impact of competitive products and technologies,
the possibility of our products infringing patents and other intellectual
property of third parties, and costs of product development. Certicom will not
update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after
the date hereof. More detailed information about potential factors that could
affect Certicom's financial results is included in the documents Certicom files
from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian
securities regulatory authorities including Certicom's Registration Statement on
Form F-10.
%SEDAR: 00003865E
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For further information: Lorraine Kauffman, Public Relations, Certicom
Corp., (510) 780-5417, lkauffman@certicom.com