Intercosmos and GeoTrust Announce Partnership

One of the Top 10 Internet Domain Name Registrars and One of World's Leading Certificate Authorities to Deliver Strong Transaction Security, Internet Identity and Authentication Solutions to E-businesses

July 31, 2002 - New Orleans, La., and Wellesley, Mass. - Intercosmos Media Group, Inc. (www.directNIC.com), one of the fastest growing domain name registrars, and GeoTrust, Inc. (www.geotrust.com), a leader in next-generation identity and security solutions for e-business and the world's second largest certificate authority, today announced a strategic partnership to deliver secure e-commerce transactions, identity verification and trust authentication services. Under the terms of the agreement, Intercosmos will offer GeoTrust's QuickSSL™, True Site™ and True BusinessID™ solutions through its reseller network. Intercosmos has registered more than 1.3 million domain names and has attracted an international customer base of hundreds of thousands of Web masters.

"Intercosmos has added GeoTrust to its robust suite of Internet business technologies. We can now offer the best security options to our e-business customers," said Sigmund Solares, CEO, Intercosmos. "GeoTrust enables us to offer the fastest, most reliable technology for secure transactions, as well as business and consumer identification and authentication. This allows our customers to assure their partners and patrons that information is safe and all parties involved in Web interactions are legitimate."

GeoTrust provides the most immediate and secure solution for online businesses wishing to build consumer confidence by offering secure sites and transactions. This partnership allows Intercosmos' reseller network to offer the ability to conduct secure transactions by using GeoTrust's QuickSSL, which offers commercial quality, 128-bit SSL digital certificates in as little as 10 minutes. This 10-minute turnaround beats the competition's 3-5 day wait for digital certificate delivery and enables companies to begin secure e-business almost immediately. SSL is the technology that activates the lock symbol in a user's browser by encrypting communications between Web browsers and servers. Intercosmos will also offer its customers GeoTrust's True Site identity solution, which ensures a site's legitimacy with a dynamically generated time/date stamp that cannot be copied. True BusinessID is a combination solution of traditional SSL certificates and the True Site offering.

"Web trust is a critical factor to e-business success, but it shouldn't be a time consuming and complex hurdle for e-businesses to get up and running with adequate security. GeoTrust makes it easy for companies to quickly build Internet businesses that people trust," said Neal Creighton, GeoTrust CEO. "GeoTrust is providing the fastest and strongest e-business security possible. We are serving an expanding list of resellers worldwide, who have given an overwhelming vote of confidence to our next-generation identity and authentication methods as shown by our steadily increasing market share."

About Intercosmos

Intercosmos Media Group, Inc. is a leading Internet services company in the international domain name and Web hosting industries. The most successful of its services, Internet domain names, is sold on www.directNIC.com. In addition to the recent GeoTrust products, Intercosmos' palette of services includes Web site hosting, online domain auctions, online Web design services, email and much more. Intercosmos, founded in February 1999 and accredited by ICANN in January 2001, operates from its offices in the Central Business District of downtown New Orleans, LA, U.S.A.

About GeoTrust, Inc.

GeoTrust, Inc., an emerging leader in Identity and Trust Services, helps organizations of all sizes secure e-commerce transactions, trusted identities and fully managed trusted environments for conducting e-business. GeoTrust's Web Security Services offer hosting providers and businesses with world-class digital certificates for fast transaction security and patent-pending smart-seals to ensure a trusted identity on the Web. GeoTrust also offers managed security services for large enterprises. With more than 25,000 companies in over 80 countries using its technology for transaction security, GeoTrust is the second largest digital certificate provider in the world. GeoTrust can be reached at www.geotrust.com or 800-944-0492.

GeoTrust is a registered trademark of GeoTrust, Inc. QuickSSL and True Site are trademarks of GeoTrust, Inc. All other product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.