Entrust and Leading Strong Authentication Partners Deliver Comprehensive Security for the Microsoft® Windows® Environment

Entrust and Entrust-Ready™ Partners provide broad security capabilities for Microsoft Windows environment in a single solution

21 Sep 2004

DALLAS, TX – September 21, 2004 - Entrust, Inc. [NASDAQ: ENTU], a world-leading provider of Identity and Access Management solutions, together with market-leading strong authentication Entrust Ready™ Partners including ActivCard, AET Europe, Aladdin Knowledge Systems, Axalto, Datakey, Monet+, SafeNet and Siemens, today reaffirmed the availability of a comprehensive security solution for the Microsoft® Windows® platform and associated applications. This solution will help enable organizations to strongly authenticate their users with the confidence of a hardware form factor. However, unlike most proprietary token technology, it will also allow customers to add security capabilities beyond authentication for applications such as secure e-mail or file encryption. This solution provides customers with a broad set of application security capabilities, all from a single solution.

The solution is based on the tight integration between Entrust Entelligence™ Security Provider and the smart card offerings of a number of Entrust-Ready™ Partners. Entrust Entelligence Security Provider is a thin-client application that can be quickly and easily deployed to secure applications on the desktop. Tightly integrated with the Microsoft Windows platform, it is the first PKI-based product to receive Microsoft’s Gold Certified Product status. This integration allows Entrust Entelligence Security Provider to deliver out-of-the-box authentication, encryption and digital signature capabilities to security-aware applications.

"Smart cards are the most versatile solution for enterprises that are considering tokens for physical and logical access, because they offer the ability to incorporate multiple enterprise requirements including legacy applications and a user ID in a portable format", said Clare Hirst, principal analyst at Gartner.

When used in conjunction with smart cards, Entrust Entelligence Security Provider delivers both increased security and flexibility. Strong, hardware-based authentication for Windows login, remote access and other applications is delivered through a user’s Digital ID stored on the smart card. Applications that require additional security capabilities to, for example, encrypt their data or embed a digital signature can leverage this same Digital ID on the hardware device. Thus, applications like e-mail or electronic forms can be secured using this same solution without additional software or hardware. This is in contrast to many token-based solutions that can be solely used with applications that require authentication only. The smart card form factor also allows the solution to be extended to meet other physical security requirements including building access via an integrated physical and logical card.

“For security-conscious organizations, there is a need for security solutions that provide more than authentication alone. By delivering an open, interoperable solution with a broad set of capabilities for a broad set of applications, Entrust and its Entrust-Ready Partners allow customers to get a much greater benefit from their security investment,” said Chris Voice, Vice President, Secure Identity Management at Entrust.

Frank Bishop, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing at ActivCard agrees: "The combination of Entrust and ActivCard's authentication software allows customers to benefit from a trusted digital identity security solution. ActivCard offers a software migration path from a one-time password security token to a multifunction security solution, for physical and logical access, enabled by a smart card leveraging the Entrust Secure Identity Management Solution."

“In order to meet the requirements of scalability and deployment flexibility, two-factor authentication, such as that delivered by USB smart cards, is key,” notes Marvin Tansley, Vice President, Access at Axalto.

“With Entrust, we are delivering tight integration with Microsoft Windows across the platform, so customers can benefit from strong security, without compromising interoperability. And for an organization’s end users, proprietary tokens will never match the ease of use found with the ATM-like interface of a smart card-based platform,” said Chris Schwartzbauer, Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Datakey.

Adds Chris Fedde, Senior Vice President and General Manager for SafeNet's Enterprise Security Division: "Customers are looking to reduce complexity and increase security as they deploy strong two-factor authentication solutions for desktops, VPNs, WLANs and Web portals. Entrust and SafeNet have collaborated to bring to market SafeNet's iKey 2032 USB Token as part of the Entrust Secure Identity Management Solution."

Entrust Entelligence Security Provider is an integral component of the Entrust® Secure Identity Management Solution and is available directly from Entrust or indirectly through authorized channels. The Entrust Secure Identity Management Solution is a comprehensive solution for securely managing identities and access for users, applications and devices across client-server, Web and Web service architectures. With the growing interest in Information Security Governance in the market today, the Entrust Secure Identity Management Solution can help organizations improve compliance with laws and regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, California Privacy SB1386, and FISMA.