Security Leaders Join Forces to Expand Today's Cryptography

IBM and RSA Jointly Work on Open Cryptography

RSA DATA SECURITY CONFERENCE, San Francisco, CA, January 16, 1996 . . Two
leaders in computer security, IBM and RSA Data Security, Inc. (RSA)**,
have agreed to develop open cryptography for the Internet and other
networks to enable secure electronic commerce. The two companies will
provide interoperable security across IBM products and other vendor
platforms. Their efforts will provide customers and developers with safe
universal access to the Internet, consistent with U.S. and non-U.S. export
regulations governing cryptographic products.

Today the two companies are announcing a project to modify RSA's BSAFE
encryption engine** and IBM's Common Cryptographic Architecture (CCA)* for
interoperability between RSA's toolkits and IBM's CCA-based hardware
products. This will enable existing applications developed with RSA's
toolkits to take advantage of IBM's hardware-based cryptography.

"The complementary skills, technology and experience of IBM and RSA will
greatly benefit our customers and the security industry," said Kathy
Kincaid, Director, I/T Security Programs, IBM.

Commenting on the expanded IBM-RSA relationship, RSA chief executive Jim
Bidzos said: "There will be several levels of closer cooperation. RSA
Laboratories and IBM's crypto researchers at its T. J. Watson research
facility will work together to produce more efficient and secure
commercial cryptography. Look for this research to accelerate the
deployment of new security features for both the desktop and the network
in 1996. In addition, there will be close cooperation on the development
of protocols and interfaces. The result should be trusted, seamless,
interoperable security across not only the IBM product line, but across
vendor products as well, when the resulting technology is adopted by both
RSA and IBM's large customer base. Computing and networking environments
are about to become a whole lot safer."

Both companies have been testing interoperability across Virtual Private
Networks in support of the IETF IPSec specification with other members of
the S/WAN working group. The S/WAN initiative is a secure wide-area
network technology based upon the standard "Security Architecture for the
Internet Protocol" RFC 1825-1829, commonly known as "IPSec."

IBM's Internet Division has also agreed to begin an internal pilot of RSA
Secure**. RSA Secure provides a disk and file encryption solution for the
desktop coupled with the capability for emergency key access.

RSA Data Security, Inc. is the world's brand name for public key
cryptography, with more than 15 million copies of RSA encryption and
authentication technologies installed and in use worldwide. RSA
technologies are part of existing and proposed protocols for the Internet
and World Wide Web, CCITT, ISO, ANSI, IEEE, and business, financial and
electronic commerce networks around the globe. The company develops and
markets platform- independent developer's kits and end-user products and
provides comprehensive cryptographic consulting services. Founded in 1982
by the inventors of the RSA Public Key Cryptosystem, the company is
headquartered in Redwood City, Calif.

IBM, the largest computer company in the world, offers hardware, software,
consulting and services to help customers secure their information
technology. Whether addressing an individual need or creating a total
enterprise solution, IBM SecureWay offerings provide the expertise
required to plan, design, implement and operate secure solutions for
businesses. Additional information on these offerings can be found through
the IBM I/T Security home page at http://www.ibm.com/Security.

For more information on IBM, see the IBM home page on the World Wide Web,
located at http://www.ibm.com. IBM's security products support the
security component of the Open Blueprint. A white paper on security in the
Open Blueprint is available for reference on the Internet at
http://www.torolab.ibm.com/openblue/openblue.html.
 
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