In a coup likely to boost sales to both the public and private sectors, RSA Data Security Inc has won US Department of Commerce approval for its digital signature technology. The DOC says it will modify the Federal Digital Signature standard (FIPS 186-1) to support the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X9.31 standard for RSA digital signatures. That means government agencies will be able to use RSA digital signatures in their applications without having battle Federal bureaucracy for a standards waiver. RSA is hoping other industries, especially financial services, will be encouraged by the government’s stamp of approval to adopt RSA digital signatures themselves.
