Public key provider VeriSign has unveiled a new product which will allow IS shops to set up their own digital certificate authorities in-house. About 50,000 organizations, including 90 per cent of the Fortune 500, already use VeriSign’s digital certificates to provide secure sockets layer (SSL) internet connections. To do this they outsource certificate validation to VeriSign itself. Each internet domain name is assigned one digital certificate, which VeriSign can use to authenticate that domain on behalf of third parties. The new product, VeriSign OnSite for Secure Server IDs, allows for multiple server digital certificates under a single domain name. That means a CIO can issue separate certificates to different parts of an organization. Each department can then conduct secure transactions with other departments by appealing to the in-house certificate authority. Officials claim CIOs around the world have been waiting breathlessly for this chance to centralize their digital certificate management. Those CIOs should contact VeriSign immediately for a bundle of 10, 25, 50, 100 or more server IDs, priced from $2850 for ten.
