InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
January 12, 1998
Bank Offers Electronic ID Confirmation
Digital certifi cate authority service is first from a financial institutionBy Beth Davis
Digital certificates act as electronic IDs that confirm a user's identity. These certificates are generated and managed by certificate authorities, which companies set up themselves or outsource to third parties.
While certificate-authority services are available today from technology vendors such as GTE, IBM, and VeriSign, Zions maintains that customers will feel more comfortable letting a bank manage their digital certificates. "Banks in the paper world already do this.
They write letters of credit," says Michelle Jolicoeur, director of government implementations at Digital Signature Trust, the Zions unit that will offer the service. "Our business is trust."
Digital Signature Trust has been running pilots of its service with Utah's Department of Commerce, the Church of Latter Day Saints, and internal departments for about a year. The service uses digital-certificate software from several vendors, including Certco, Entrust, GTE, VeriSign, and Xcert. Separately, Certco and Entrust will unveil new features to their certificate-authority offerings at this week's RSA Data Security conference in San Francisco.
Oppenheimer Funds Inc., which plans to implement digital certificates by midyear to bolster IT security, is investigating whether to operate its own certificate authority or to outsource. "A bank is generally going to be a more stable company," says Jim Patterson, an Oppenheimer technology VP in Englewood, Colo. "But on the other hand, do I want a bank-a bank that I
currently don't have a relationship with-to know so much about me?"
Still, Patterson says digital certificates will be important elements in business-to-business commerce and communications. "With digital certificates, I can start getting or sending requests to perform business functions over any medium I want, including the public Internet," he says.
Pricing for the Digital Signature Trust service will be subscription-based and will depend on the customer's applications and number of certificates.
ions Bancorp, a $9 billion regional bank in Salt Lake City, this week will become the first financial institution to offer a service that lets organizations use digital certificates to secure internal and business-to-business communications.
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