Microsoft inks security software deal
May 8, 2001, 8:05 a.m. PT
news.cnet.com
REDMOND, Wash.--Microsoft announced a deal to provide banks with software designed to make their Internet transactions ultrasecure.
The technology, which works in the Windows 2000 operating system, is designed to allow banks to be sure of whom they are dealing with on the Internet. It matches a security framework designed by Identrus, an alliance of 150 of the world's largest banks.
The deal, announced late Monday, involves Microsoft, Unisys of Blue Bell, Pa., and Baltimore Technologies, which has its U.S. headquarters in Boston. Baltimore is providing its Public Key Infrastructure security system and Unisys is providing help using the system.
Banks and businesses have long worried that insufficient Internet security could dampen e-commerce. While Microsoft, based here, is not offering any new product, the company and its partners are offering the ability to match Identrus' specifications with a single purchase.
Previously, communications between businesses could be performed over the Internet, but businesses often resorted to completing deals by overnight mail, said Bill Hartnett, Microsoft's global director of financial services.
This will allow banks to do things such as verify letters of credit by computer, he said. |
