Disclaimer: This information comes from sources that cannot be verified. As such, make no assumptions about its completeness or accuracy. We endeavor to keep this information up to date as much as possible. Feel free to send comments/ updates to the Security News Editor.

November 10, 1997, Section: Intranets/Internet

Safer Web Business -- Cyberguard to launch pooled Web site with verification

By Clinton Wilder

Cyberguard Corp.'s TradeWave unit will launch an "affiliates network" later this month that goes beyond conventional pooled Web sites to enable electronic- commerce providers to become issuers of digital certificates.

The E-commerce service provider (ESP) program is designed to give mostly small vendors additional marketing clout by hawking their E-commerce and Web site development services through a single Web site (esp.tradewave.com)

But the program goes a step further. TradeWave is a digital certificate-issuing authority, and members of the ESP program will be authorized to issue TradeWave digital certificates directly to their customers. These certificates give users at both ends of an Internet transaction the technical ability to verify the identity of the other, reducing the chances of fraud by buyers and sellers.

TradeWave hopes the ESP program will become a standard and trusted authority that will give ESP members' customers the confidence to move forward with E-commerce and extranet projects.

"Security is the big issue holding a lot of companies back," says Cyberguard/TradeWave corporate VP Tom Patterson, who left his job as chief strategist for E-commerce at IBM this year to join the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., company. "Corporate customers want ESPs to come in with a completely cost-justified plan to securely link their legacy systems to Web sites and extranets."

ESP program members will receive what TradeWave calls "two certs and a slice"-two digital certificates and a slice of disk space on TradeWave Web servers. TradeWave will help members configure security demos for their customers to illustrate how digital certificates work.

There's no fee to join the ESP program; TradeWave hopes to make its money selling additional digital certificates to members.

TradeWave expects 75% of its members to be companies that are less than two years old. TradeWave has prequalified about 150 such companies and will invite them to join as soon as it launches the program.

The remaining 25% of members will be large consulting firms or systems integrators. One charter member is KPMG Peat Marwick's E-commerce consulting group.

The ESP program "will make it easy to get our customers involved with trying digital certificates, and that's the first hurdle," says Douglas Graham, a director of KPMG's E-commerce practice. "This area is very significant. It's just a matter of time before digital certificates become ubiquitous."