OATH Announces Charter to Drive Adoption of Open Strong Authentication

OATH Announces Charter to Drive Adoption of Open Strong
Authentication
Cross-Industry Initiative to Drive Adoption of Strong Authentication Across
Networks, Applications and Devices 


DENVER, Digital ID World, Oct. 26  /PRNewswire/ -- More than 30 leading device,
platform, and application companies supporting the initiative for Open
AuTHentication (OATH) today entered into an agreement that forms a charter to
drive the adoption of open, standards-based strong authentication technology.

By enabling a broad range of interoperable hardware, software, and services,
OATH participants are working to help customers reduce the cost and complexity
of deploying strong authentication within enterprises, and across the Internet.
 Since its formation, OATH's membership has expanded to include industry
leaders from a range of technology sectors, including token manufacturers,
platform vendors, smartcard providers, and security services companies.

The current membership includes the following companies:  ActivCard, Inc.;
Aladdin Knowledge Systems; ARM; Assa Abloy ITG; Authenex, Inc.; Aventail
Corporation; Axalto, Inc.; BEA Systems; BMC Software; Checkpoint Software
Technologies; DataKey, Inc.(soon to be a SafeNet company); Digital Persona;
Diversinet Corp.; Entrust Technologies, Inc.; Forum Systems, Inc.; Gemplus
Corp; I.B.M.; IMCentric, Inc.; Juniper Networks, Inc.; K.K. Athena Smartcard
Solutions; Livo Technologies SA; Passlogix, Inc.; Phoenix Technologies Ltd.;
Signify; Smart Card Alliance; VASCO Data Security; and VeriSign, Inc. (See
attached quote sheet for comments by OATH participants.)

Experts have long recognized the need for strong forms of authentication for
critical applications. Strong authentication, which requires users to possess a
second, physical factor in addition to a password or PIN, is an essential
component in protecting against the various forms of security attacks prevalent
today. In recent years, the rise in malicious attacks, combined with growth of
mobile computing and the increasing openness of most corporate networks, has
increased the need for strong authentication for remote access, user log-in,
and single sign-on. Most existing incumbent two-factor technologies, however,
have proven too expensive and inflexible for broad-based deployment, thus
constricting and enterprise's ability to offer stronger authentication to their
employee and customer bases.

"The transition from proprietary to open architecture should expand the use of
strong authentication across all industries," said Bob Blakley, Chief Security
and Privacy Scientist, IBM, and OATH participant. "OATH and its focused efforts
will help create online security that is stronger and faster to deploy.  OATH
participants encourage others to join this effort and become active
participants driving the evolution of authentication."

OATH participants have agreed to work across standard bodies to complete a set
of open standards supporting a common architecture. The OATH reference
architecture was introduced earlier in the year and a draft is available for
download at http://www.openauthentication.org/.

About the Initiative for Open AuTHentication

The Initiative for Open AuTHentication (OATH) is a collaboration of leading
device, platform and application companies. OATH participants hope to foster
use of strong authentication across networks, devices and applications. OATH
participants work collectively to facilitate standards work and build a
reference architecture for open authentication while evangelizing the benefits
of strong interoperable authentication in a networked world.  OATH is actively
seeking all participants who share a common vision of open authentication.  To
learn how to participate, email  or visit http://www.openauthentication.org/ .

  Industry Support For OATH:

  ActivCard (NASDAQ:ACTI)

"We are pleased to join our industry partners in this initiative to make strong
authentication affordable and pervasive. ActivCard is committed to creating
open reference architecture and delivering solutions to our customers that
provide a high level of security and a great return on investment."

  -- Ed Macbeth, senior vice president, global alliances

  Aladdin Knowledge Systems (NASDAQ:ALDN)

"OATH will be the catalyst for change in an online world requiring stronger
authentication, creating a deep, industry-based collaboration. Aladdin is
excited and proud to be a part of this effort with our strong user
authentication and password management eToken solutions."

  -- Stephen Axel, vice president, marketing

  Athena Smartcard Solutions (NASDAQ:ARMHY)

"Athena's leading PKI smart card technology integrates logical and physical
access in our ASECard Unified Corporate Badge and Card Management System. By
supporting OATH initiative we expect our customers to enjoy lower deployment
cost and increased efficiency. We applaud OATH for taking the initiative and we
expect to contribute our knowledge and experience to the group."

  -- Jochi Fuchs, vice president, business development

  Authenex


"With the flexibility of OATH, customers and buyers seeking security solutions
can be relieved of the burdens imposed by limitations with existing
infrastructure or restrictive interoperability of single product providers. The
OATH initiative is an essential step toward the overall acceptance of strong
authentication because of its simple goal."

  -- Paul Lin, CEO

  Aventail Corporation


"As the leading SSL VPN product company, we work with the world's top
organizations to provide the broadest range of secure access to sensitive
corporate assets from anywhere. These companies demand strong authentication
that is flexible, scalable, and simple to administer across every network,
every device and every user. We welcome OATH's open, standards-based approach,
which will help our customers take even more advantage of Aventail's SSL VPN
leadership in policy management, application access and End Point Control."

  -- Sarah Daniels, vice president of product management and marketing

  Axalto (PNK: AXTOF.PK)


"As the recognized leader in open standard based smart card solutions, Axalto
supports this effort. Strong authentication within a protected environment is
one reason why the world's largest mobile communications, banking, and
government organizations have purchased more than three billion microprocessor
smart cards from Axalto over the past 25 years. OATH has the potential to
further broaden the adoption of secure authentication devices."

  -- Francois Lasnier, vice president, finance, retail, access and ID

  BMC Software (NYSE:BMC)

"BMC Software welcomes the OATH initiative. As the identity management and
authentication market matures, interoperability of strong authentication
systems becomes an important consideration for our customers.  As a member of
the OATH initiative, we look forward to the opportunity of working with our
industry peers to remove barriers to deployment and develop the framework and
standards that promote strong authentication interoperability."

  -- Doron Cohen, chief architect, Identity Management Business Unit.

  Check Point Software Technologies (NYSE:CKP)

"With the dynamic threat landscape, it is imperative that the highest standards
are set to ensure that open authentication extends across all networks,
applications and devices. Check Point embraces the OATH initiative, and we look
forward to seeing customers benefit from it."

  -- Paul Weinstein, vice president, business development

  DataKey, soon to be a SafeNet Inc Company, (OTC:DKEY.OB) (BULLETIN BOARD:
DKEY.OB) 


"The demand for strong authentication using smart cards and USB tokens is
growing rapidly as organizations respond to the security and privacy
requirements of various regulations and to the growing business need to secure
expanding information and application access.  SafeNet has a long history of
providing standards-based security solutions and actively supports the efforts
of OATH to establish industry wide standards that enable broad adoption of
strong authentication solutions."

  -- Tim Russell, CEO

  Digital Persona


"OATH will stimulate the cross-industry cooperation required to develop the
practical standards needed for more secure and convenient authentication
methods to proliferate. As a charter member of OATH, Digital Persona is proud
to represent the rapidly growing role of fingerprint biometrics in the
authentication practices used by enterprises and consumers."

  -- Vance Bjorn, co-founder and CTO

  Diversinet (OTC:DVNTF.OB) (BULLETIN BOARD: DVNTF.OB) 


"With over 1 billion mobile device users globally, the OATH mission for the
ubiquity of strong authentication fuses perfectly with Diversinet's leadership
role in providing an open platform for mobile device security. By supporting
the OATH HOTP within our Passport Trust

Platform Mobile Client core, we accelerate the ability for industry vendors,
service providers and enterprises to use mobile phones as two-factor, strong
authenticators. We anticipate that global wireless carriers will play a
significant role in creating a broad and open network of OATH enabled mobile
devices."

  -- Stu Vaeth, CSO

  Entrust (NASDAQ:ENTU)

"For most organizations, the adoption of strong, two-factor authentication
solutions is a fundamental step toward achieving a comprehensive security
strategy, and Entrust is pleased to be a part of the OATH initiative to develop
and promote stronger industry standards for authentication systems. With such
wide support across security sectors, we feel that this open authentication
initiative will ultimately benefit the market as the industry collaborates to
create and advance interoperability between all components of authentication
architecture."

  -- Chris Voice, vice president, secure identity management

  Forum Systems


"Organizations are eager to extend a common and cost-effective foundation for
'trusted' identity and access management to automated Web services, and OATH is
a significant step forward in accelerating this reality.  Forum is pleased to
be the first Web services security vendor to support OATH, marking the maturity
of Web services adoption. Leveraging the OATH architecture, Forum's suite of
products will be able to attach strong authentication to Web services
interactions, which will be vital to sensitive and high value transactions."

  -- Walid Negm, vice president, marketing

  Gemplus (NASDAQ:GEMP)

"OATH opens up a larger market for our SIM card-based offering, which as
demonstrated in VeriSign's booth at the Digital ID World Conference, can enable
mobile phones to be used as strong authentication devices. The impressive list
of companies and members represented in the OATH committees, will add strength
to our joint goal of creating open standards that can drive the strong
authentication market in the right direction."

  -- Philippe Martineau, vice president, WLAN

  IMCentric


"IMCentric strongly supports OATH's commitment to the fundamental role of
strong authentication in creating trusted networks. As enterprises rely more
and more on digital certificates for secure access and communications, a
standards-based approach for managing these digital certificates, like
IMCentric's, will accelerate the use of these powerful authentication solutions
and drive the expansion of trusted network environments."

  -- Carl Ledbetter, CEO

  Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:JNPR)

"With more and more employees working remotely, the need for enterprises to
quickly and efficiently provision users to gain remote access via SSL-VPNs is
growing exponentially.  We applaud OATH for bringing together a wide- variety
of companies to help drive and open standards approach that will make strong
authentication services less costly, more intuitive and interoperable."

-- Krishna 'Kittu' Kolluri , Vice President and General Manager, Security
Products Group

Livo Technologies SA (Madrid: LIVO.MA)

"Livo Technologies SA, inventor of a strong, three-factor, user authentication
algorithm, joined OATH to provide Digital ID providers with new ID Management
features that dramatically increase the confidence and the convenience of
electronic communications while leveraging the ROI of existing authentication
systems, applications and services. We strongly believe that OATH vision and
cross-industry roadmap supports well what Livo Technology SA has designed and
is now able to productize."

  - Frederic Engel, co-founder

  Passlogix


"An increasing number of our deployed enterprise single sign-on customers are
starting to consider broader use of advanced authentication. They are looking
to Passlogix for solutions that enable them to easily deploy and maintain
strong authentication to all of their enterprise applications. Passlogix
supports the OATH initiative since its goal of reducing the cost and complexity
of adopting strong authentication will help our customers to move forward with
their plans."

  -- Stephane Fymat, director, product management

  Phoenix Technologies (NASDAQ:PETEC)

"OATH brings together an impressive set of companies that are collaborating to
provide and open authentication framework that will enable secure
communications and commerce. As the industry leader in core systems software
that enables device authentication, Phoenix contributes valuable knowledge and
insight about how to enable trusted networks, devices and applications."

-- Michael Goldgof, senior vice president, corporate marketing and products
division

Signify

"We are delighted to support OATH as it shares our belief that One Time
Passcodes provide the future for mass market secure authentication.  Signify
has been delivering Managed Authentication Services to our clients for over
four years and are excited about the prospect of offering a service based on
OATH open standards."

  -- John Stewart, CEO

  Smart Card Alliance


"OATH is an example of how industry working together collaboratively can
accomplish great things. Like in the Smart Card Alliance, when organizations
work side by side to address common needs in an open forum, great things can
result very quickly."

  -- Randy Vanderhoof, executive director

  VASCO Data Security (NASDAQ:VDSI)

"VASCO is pleased to participate in the OATH initiative and to endorse its
platform for safe on-line transactions for consumers and business users. The
use of a static password is no longer safe or appropriate when there are
affordable and cost-effective forms of strong authentication available in the
market. With over 12 million token devices sold and shipped to date, VASCO is
the leader in strong authentication in use today. VASCO strongly believes in
OATH, as it could open new markets and bring new opportunities by promoting,
amongst others, two-factor authentication hardware tokens to all industries in
all parts of the world."

  -- Jan Valcke, president and COO

  VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN)

"In order for any technology to gain wide-spread adoption, technology providers
must create open standards to serve as the blueprint for building integrated
and interoperable solutions.  The cross-section of organizations that have
joined OATH clearly shows the momentum this initiative has gained. When OATH's
vision is fully realized, an ecosystem for innovation will have been created
that delivers strong authentication solutions that possess enhanced
functionality, at a reduced cost."

-- Judy Lin, executive vice president and general manager, VeriSign Security
Services 

DATASOURCE: OATH



CONTACT:  Bill Danon of Bite Communications, [phone], or

, for OATH



Web site:  http://www.openauthentication.org/

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