nCipher netHSM

Mon Oct 6 10:51:47 EDT 2003

<http://www.emediawire.com/printer.php?prid=83048>

New nCipher
netHSM Strengthens Market Leadership in Cryptographic Hardware Security
nCipher redefines ROI for cryptographic security with first FIPS-validated
shareable hardware security module 

nCipher plc (LSE:NCH) today announced
the netHSM, an advanced network-attached hardware security module (HSM)
that reduces the cost of deploying cryptographic solutions across the
enterprise to protect sensitive information and corporate intellectual
property. 

Cambridge, UK (PRWEB)6 October 2003 - nCipher plc (LSE:NCH), a
leading provider of cryptographic IT security solutions, today announced
the netHSM, an advanced network-attached hardware security module (HSM)
that reduces the cost of deploying cryptographic solutions across the
enterprise to protect sensitive information and corporate intellectual
property.  With the new netHSM, nCipher customers are now able to share a
single centralized security resource across multiple servers and
applications ranging from Web sites using SSL through user authentication
and remote access to digital rights management and Web services. 

While
traditional HSMs are deployed on a one-to-one basis with individual
servers, nCipher's netHSM allows multiple applications to access
hardware-based encryption, decryption and signing functions via secure
connections over IP networks. This greatly enhances shareability and
scalability, reduces deployment costs and centralizes administration.
Customers that adopt best practices and deploy hardware-based security now
have more flexibility to architect systems, enforce security policies and
manage budgets. 

"These days, return on investment is critical. Of course,
with security, organizations need to follow best practice but they also
need to look at the total cost of ownership of all of their security
technologies; how they scale, how easy they are to manage, how simply they
integrate into existing infrastructure," says Graham Titterington,
principal analyst and security expert with Ovum. "The netHSM passes a lot
of these tests - a secure cryptographic module that is compatible with
existing nCipher HSMs and that can be shared by multiple servers - this
opens up new opportunities to deploy hardware security in areas that
organisations would previously have found difficult to justify." 

In line
with other nCipher HSM products, the security properties of the netHSM have
been independently validated to the Federal Information Processing Standard
(FIPS) 140-2 
level 3 - one of the most stringent standards in the IT
security industry. The netHSM boasts superior processing performance
required to handle multiple servers and applications and is capable of
performing up to 1600 RSA operations per second (based on 1024 bit keys)
including digital signing operations and SSL session initiation. In
addition to supporting a wide variety of cryptographic algorithms,
nCipher's netHSM supports software applications from leading security
vendors including the major Web and application server platforms and
commercial PKI software. 

nCipher's new netHSM complements the existing
family of nShield and nForce dedicated HSMs. Both families can be
integrated with nCipher's powerful Security World key management
architecture to deploy flexible combinations of different types of HSMs to
best suit requirements and ensure that investment in nCipher's HSM
technology is always protected. 

"The launch of the netHSM is a direct
response to market demand for greater choice in deploying hardware-based
security. The widespread dependence on cryptography for the protection of
customer privacy and corporate intellectual property is causing many
organizations to question the robustness of their systems," said Simon
Avarne, vice president, Product Management at nCipher. "As more
organizations consider their deployment options for adopting hard security,
the common themes of scalability, flexibility and ease of use emerge. With
the netHSM, we have focused on delivering all these elements in a
network-attached, shareable package that ensures interoperability with our
existing and field-proven family of dedicated HSMs." 

About nCipher

nCipher is redefining cryptographic security to protect points of risk
across the enterprise - from network appliances to Web servers, to custom
software applications and back-end databases. nCipher provides hardware and
software solutions that enable organizations to implement best practice
security by addressing the challenges of cryptographic key management and
performance. Many of the world's leading organizations - from Microsoft and
Barclays Bank to PricewaterhouseCoopers and the U.S. Navy - rely on nCipher
to deliver a sound e-security infrastructure. nCipher's products are
particularly well suited to organizations with high volumes of
security-sensitive transactions, such as banking and financial
institutions, government departments, e-retailers and online service
providers. nCipher is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:NCH) and is
a member of the FTSE TechMARK and FTSE4Good indices with offices in
Cambridge, UK; Boston, Seattle, Paris, Hamburg, Singapore and Tokyo. For
more information on nCipher, visit www.ncipher.com. 
### 

Contact
Information 

Michelle Chase 
PerkettPR, Inc. 
http://www.ncipher.com

303-355-5104 

-- 
-----------------
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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