VeriSign Achieves U.S. DoD External Certificate Authority Accreditation

New VeriSign ECA Service Enables Secure Transactions with Federal, State and Local Agencies

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA. – June 10, 2005 - VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, today announced that it has been accredited by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as a supplier of digital certificate services under the External Certificate Authority (ECA) program, enabling individuals, organizations and contractors to securely communicate with U.S. government agencies. VeriSign-issued ECA digital certificates provide added layers of security to enable access to protected government Web sites and enable security for a variety of applications including email, remote access, and digitally-signed documents and electronic forms.

To achieve ECA accreditation, VeriSign was required to demonstrate that its ECA Certificate Practices Statement complies with stringent ECA certificate policies. VeriSign also successfully completed interoperability testing at the DoD Joint Interoperability Test Center.

The new VeriSign® ECA service is an enhancement of the VeriSign® Interim External Certificate Authority (IECA) service, which VeriSign has been operating since 1999 under an agreement with the DoD. The IECA service was restricted to use by contractors, trading partners and other non-DoD entities needing to securely communicate with the DoD. However, the VeriSign ECA service is now available to a broad spectrum of users conducting business with Federal, state and local governments, including: individuals, employees of businesses, employees of state and local governments, and employees of foreign governments and organizations. The VeriSign ECA service will provide enhanced features such as multi-year certificates, hardware tokens, key escrow and Trusted Agent services, and will also include OCSP certificate validation using the VeriSign Trusted Global Validation Service (TGV). VeriSign ECA will be the first use of TGV by primarily U.S.-government-relying parties.

“The VeriSign ECA service will meet the federal government’s e-Authentication requirements for levels 3 and 4 (medium and high assurance levels) and will provide interoperability with many external entities through the cross-certification of ECA with the Federal Bridge Certification Authority,” said George Schu, vice president, Public Sector, VeriSign. “We are pleased to be an approved ECA service provider and anticipate that many federal, state and local government agencies will want to capitalize on the extensive DoD efforts in developing the ECA program.”

About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN) operates intelligent infrastructure services that enable businesses and individuals to find, connect, secure and transact across today’s complex global networks. Additional news and information about the company is available at www.verisign.com.

For more information, contact:
VeriSign Media Relations: Jennifer Schmidt, jschmidt@verisign.com, 703-948-4475
VeriSign Investor Relations: Tom McCallum, tmccallum@verisign.com, 650-426-3744

Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results due to such factors as the inability of VeriSign to successfully develop and market new products and services and customer acceptance of any new products or services, including VeriSign's External Certificate Authority program, the possibility that VeriSign’s announced new services may not result in additional customers, profits or revenues; and increased competition and pricing pressures. More information about potential factors that could affect the company's business and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.



Source: Wired News