VeriSign and AOL To Demonstrate Prototype Of First “Safe Chat Room” with i-Safe

October 26, 2004; 11:31 PM
DULLES, VA and MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA., October 26, 2004 - (DomainInformer.com) - VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, and America Online, the world's leader in interactive services, today announced that the companies will demonstrate the first "safe chat room" for kids and teens that uses authentication technology to verify a child's age. Stratton Sclavos, VeriSign chairman and CEO, will showcase this capability - undertaken in coordination with i-SAFE, a non-profit foundation created to educate students about safe online behavior - during a keynote address later today at Digital ID World 2004 in Denver, CO. The companies intend to work together to expand the use of this technology through schools and other youth and family-oriented venues.

In addition, VeriSign and AOL announced that they had extended their strategic partnership and plan to work to integrate VeriSign's new two-factor authentication tokens with AOL standards, to enable secure log-in and other security applications in the future for consumers seeking stronger authentication when accessing the Internet and associated services.

"The Internet is providing a foundation for a dramatic transformation of commerce, communications and society," said Stratton Sclavos, Chairman and CEO, VeriSign. "Unfortunately, with that transformation will come new threats such as malicious software, identity theft and criminals who prey on our young. VeriSign and AOL will work together to find ways to help protect security-conscious consumers through the integration of our technologies and we will help consumers combat these and other risks as they emerge."

"AOL has always been a leader in protecting children and families online," said David Gang, Executive Vice President, AOL Products. "Our partnership with VeriSign and the demonstration today with iSAFE offer examples of how we plan to use new technologies to continue to protect our members, secure their communications, and keep their identities safe from hackers and predators."

"i-SAFE is dedicated to educate and empower our nation's youth on safe and responsible cyber citizenship," said Teri Schroeder, President of iSAFE America. "Just as we've been teaching kids about physical safety in the real world, we need to help them be safer in the online world. It is imperative that we give our youth the tools to be proactive cyber citizens while communicating with others in cyber space. i-SAFE's relationship with VeriSign has empowered i-SAFE to bring these tools to our young people and set a firm foundation for a culture of adoption to incorporate these tools into their daily lives."

VeriSign Unified Authentication consists of a comprehensive set of software and services that provide a single integrated platform for provisioning and managing all types of two-factor authentication credentials, including tokens and smartcards. By integrating with a service provider's or enterprise's existing directory and identity management architecture and leveraging VeriSign's highly-scalable validation infrastructure, VeriSign Unified Authentication dramatically reduces the complexity and cost of two-factor authentication.

For more information on VeriSign Unified Authentication, visit http://www.verisign.com/products-services/security-services/pki/unified-authentication/index.html

About America Online, Inc.
America Online, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. Based in Dulles, Virginia, America Online is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies and e-commerce services.

About i-SAFE America, Inc.
i-SAFE America, Inc. is a government funded non-profit foundation based in Southern California, whose mission is to educate and empower young people to safely and responsibly take control of their Internet experiences. The goal of i-SAFE is to provide awareness and knowledge that enables students to recognize and avoid dangerous, destructive, inappropriate or unlawful online behavior and to respond appropriately. Over the years, i-SAFE has educated thousands of children, parents and educators of the value of Internet safety. Additional information about i-SAFE can be found at www.isafe.org.

About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), delivers intelligent infrastructure services that make the Internet and telecommunications networks more intelligent, reliable, and secure. Every day VeriSign helps thousands of businesses and millions of consumers connect, communicate, and transact with confidence. Additional news and information about the company is available at http://www.verisign.com.

For more information, contact: VeriSign Media Relations: Brendan P. Lewis, [email protected], 650-426-4470 VeriSign Investor Relations: Tom McCallum, [email protected], 650-426-3744