RSA touts DIY certificates

R. A. Hettinga rah at shipwright.com
Fri Jun 21 19:15:50 EDT 2002


http://www.theregus.com/content/55/25329.html

  21 June 2002
  Updated: 06:57 EST
The Register The Register USA

RSA touts DIY certificates
By ComputerWire
Posted: 06/21/2002 at 06:42 EST

ComputerWire: IT Industry Intelligence
A new option for web authentication from RSA Security Inc will let
businesses manage their own SSL (Secure Socket ayer) digital certificates,
instead of having to rely on certificate authority service providers who
charge an annual fee per certificate.

The need to reliably authenticate Web servers to visiting browsers, calls
for trusted certificates to complete the certificate validation process in
a way that is transparent to the end-user. In the same way that a business
will want to verify the identity of an individual wanting to make a
commercial web site transaction, visitors to web sites want to see a level
of trust. By reliably authenticating Web servers to visiting browsers, SSL
server certificates help build that trust.

With RSA's Keon Web Server SSL, customers' Web server certificates
generated and issued by their RSA Keon Certificate Authority (CA) software
are designed to be automatically validated and trusted by popular Web
browsers, email packages or other secure applications. The product is
targeted for use anywhere there is a need for web authentication, to
support a move to digital signatures, or to improve the level of secure
access to corporate email or virtual private network (VPN) systems.

The Bedford, Massachusetts-based security vendor claims its option is a
cheaper alternative to a service-based approach to CA-based server
authentication. It is a move no doubt intended to chip away at the managed
certificate business of RSA rival, Verisign Inc.

The RSA Keon Web Server SSL offering is intended to take care of all
aspects surrounding the issuing, management and validation of SSL server
certificates, using 128-bit encryption between browsers and servers. It
also includes various root signing services to accredit a businesses'
certificate authority to RSA's own recognized trust hierarchy.

-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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