http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/biztech/articles/09encrypt.html March 9, 1999 U.S. Eases Up on Security Software Exports By REUTERS MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- The Internet security software maker Verisign Inc. said Monday that the United States agency that controls software exports would allow the company to ship its high-security products to a broader set of overseas customers. Verisign stock surged after news of the expanded United States export approval, rising $14.75, or 14 percent, to $119, in Nasdaq trading. The company said it had won approval from the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Export Administration to expand the sale of its 128-bit Global Server identification digital certificates. The software, which is used to authenticate the identity of individual computer users and thus pave the way for commercial transactions, uses 128-bit encryption, considered a virtually unbreakable code against hacker attacks. Verisign said expanded sales authorization now includes online merchants, health care and insurance organizations and overseas units of United States corporations. Previously, such customers had to make do with weaker 40-bit encryption because of Government export limitations on more powerful encryption technology, which the Government regulates under laws designed to keep advanced munitions from slipping into enemy hands. Encryption software supporters see the sale of such software overseas as crucial to the United States computer industry's competitiveness; critics see the software as a potential threat to national security. -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Internet Security Institute [www.isi-sec.com]
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