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VeriSign pending acquisition of low assurance SSL provider GeoTrust puts VeriSign in position to fulfill on the promise of its Trusted Commerce Initiative

Comodo challenges VeriSign to end the practice of issuing low assurance, non-business authenticated SSL certificates without any means to establish true Internet and identity assurance as demanded by consumers, organizations and regulators.

Jersey City, NJ (May 25, 2006) - Comodo, a global leader in Identity and Trust Assurance Management solutions, believes VeriSign's announcement to acquire GeoTrust is a positive first step toward VeriSign fulfilling its promise to ensure the highest standards in identity assurance for all online merchants. With this announcement, Comodo believes that VeriSign, by curtailing the dispersion of non-validated low assurance SSL certificates, can deliver identity assurance for previously unverified eCommerce sites.

With the news of this acquisition, consumers, organizations and regulators can soon expect more SSL certificates to provide critical identity assurance for websites, thus creating trust online. Since most GeoTrust certificates are currently domain validated only without any business authentication, they significantly undermine the efficacy of the padlock icon as a trust indicator. In contrast, Comodo provides a balanced portfolio of SSL certificates solutions, all of which provide the means to establish critical identity assurance. Our SSL certificate solutions scale to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes and include:

Enterprise SSL - a high volume, enterprise class solution that provides high level security with management tools for ease of use;

Instant SSL - the eCommerce SSL certificate that provides highly secured encryption with full business validation; and

Positive SSL - domain validated SSL with optional free business verification in IdAuthority, one of the world's largest online directories of authenticated ebusinesses managed by Comodo.

Comodo's focus is Identity and Trust Assurance (ITA) and has been a core business driver since Comodo's inception as a Certification Authority in 2001. As a result of this focus, Comodo has innovated with new technologies (e.g. patented web content verification for site assurance) and free consumer security tools to expand the pool of confident online consumers. In addition, Comodo led the establishment of the CAB Forum - a consortium of the major browser providers and leading Certification Authorities for developing guidelines that will drive future SSL certification practices.

"As a leading CA, Comodo has been aggressively pushing to strengthen identity assurance certification on the Internet," said Melih Abdulhayoglu, CEO and Chief Security Architect of Comodo. "We have invested significantly in authentication processes and technologies for every SSL certificate under the Comodo brand. We are hopeful that with its acquisition of GeoTrust, VeriSign will raise the level of Internet assurance for all VeriSign SSL certificates."

About Comodo

Comodo is a leading global provider of Identity and Trust Assurance services on the Internet, with over 200,000 customers worldwide. Headquartered in Jersey City, NJ with global offices in the UK, Ukraine and India, the company offers businesses and consumers the intelligent security, authentication and assurance services necessary to ensure trust in online transactions.

As a leading Certification Authority, and in combination with the Digital Trust Lab. Comodo helps enterprises address digital ecommerce and infrastructure needs with reliable, third generation solutions that improve customer relationships, enhance customer trust and create efficiencies across digital ecommerce operations. Comodo's solutions include integrated Web hosting management solutions, infrastructure services, digital e-commerce services, digital certification, identity assurance, customer privacy and vulnerability management solutions. For additional information on Comodo - Creating Trust Online™ - please visit: www.comodo.com.