GeoTrust QuickSSL™ Breaks 10-Minute Barrier for SSL Provisioning

Web businesses no longer shackled by 3-5 day waiting periods

October 9, 2001 - BOSTON, MA. - GeoTrust, Inc.(www.geotrust.com), a leader in trust solutions for the Internet security infrastructure, today announced the release of QuickSSL. The company's new secure sockets layer product provides near-instantaneous delivery of commercial quality, 128-bit, SSL digital certificates for encrypting communications between Web browsers and servers - the technology that activates the lock symbol in user's browsers.

"With QuickSSL, GeoTrust is providing SSL certificates within 10 minutes of our receipt of a valid request," said GeoTrust CEO, Neal Creighton. "Our new authentication systems process and respond to certificate requests automatically, allowing systems administrators, Web hosting companies, and anyone else needing SSL certificates to obtain them quickly and easily, without the 3-5 day wait typical of our competition."

"By integrating GeoTrust's SSL technology into our PSA 2.0 product we are able to provide a seamless interface to our hosting partners and their customers who wish to purchase a digital certificate," said Jamie Marraccini, vice president of Plesk, Inc. (www.plesk.com), the leader in automated Web hosting software. "GeoTrust's 10-minute turnaround removes a major barrier and solves a problem businesses have been complaining about for years. Without GeoTrust's SSL, this efficiency simply isn't possible"

Web server certificates created by QuickSSL are recognized and accepted by the vast majority of SSL-capable Web browsers in use on the Internet today, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Communicator, and Netscape Navigator. Businesses interested in obtaining a QuickSSL certificate can do so by visiting the company's web site at www.geotrust.com.

QuickSSL leverages the company's recent introduction of True Site™, the world's first second-generation identity trust solution for business Web sites, ensuring a site's legitimacy and making e-commerce safer by providing identification information to consumers. Partitioning the two issues of transaction security and identity trust enables GeoTrust to deliver faster provisioning of SSL together with improved identity verification for businesses and consumers on the Web - an industry first.

"The pioneers who established the World Wide Web recognized transaction security and identity trust would be critical components of the Internet infrastructure," said Jothy Rosenberg, co-founder and chief technology officer of GeoTrust. "Our robust authentication technology, based on six patents-pending, enables us to achieve the vision of those pioneers by extending SSL transaction security with True Site identity trust. "

The introduction of QuickSSL comes on the heels of GeoTrust's recent acquisition of the digital certificate business of Equifax, Secure (a subsidiary of Equifax, Inc.), the $1.1 billion leader in information services for global e-commerce.

About GeoTrust, Inc.

GeoTrust, Inc.(www.geotrust.com), a leader in trust solutions for the Internet security infrastructure, is paving the way to a new world of trust and business opportunity. GeoTrust's second-generation Internet trust solutions, based on breakthrough identity trust and world-class digital certificate technologies, enable Web sites, enterprises and individuals to safely exploit the Internet.