Cryptography Products from Data Fellows Receive Certification From the International Computer Security Association

First published: 11^th February 1998

Cryptography Products from Data Fellows Receive Certification From the International Computer Security Association F-Secure VPN and F-Secure SSH Client & F-Secure SSH Server Are Among the First Encryption Programs to be Voted ICSA Certified

The International Computer Security Association has named F-Secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) and F-Secure SSH Client & F-Secure SSH Server from Data Fellows to its premiere list of certified products in the field of cryptography. "Data Fellows is honored to be among the very first companies to receive this important certification," said Petri Laakkonen, president of Data Fellows. "Receiving two thumbs up from the global expert in network security in their debut certification of cryptographic systems further strengthens the trustworthiness, reliability and maturity that F-Secure products have gained among the most security-conscious organizations worldwide."

The Data Fellows programs receiving ICSA certification are software-only solutions which provide military-grade encryption. F-Secure VPN connects separate local area networks (LANs) together over the Internet, creating an encrypted virtual private network in cyberspace. It works with existing firewalls and routers and does not require any special hardware or proprietary systems.

F-Secure SSH enables all MS Windows, Unix and Macintosh users to have secure e-mail, X-Windows, web browser, Telnet, database and other TCP/IP connections over untrustworthy networks, such as the Internet. It provides unobtrusive, totally transparent and secure access to corporate resources and does not require any additional hardware or system resources. F-Secure SSH provides both host and user authentication, automatic military-grade session encryption and integrity protection for all transferred data. All F-Secure products capitalize on RSA-secured, industry-standard SSH transport layer protocol and its military strength encryption methods, such as triple-DES, Blowfish and IDEA.

"Even sophisticated users have no real way to judge the quality of cryptography implemented in the products and system they will use," said Dr. Peter Tippett, president of the ICSA. "To become ICSA Certified,' cryptography products must initially pass a rigorous suite of analysis and testing of cryptographic quality which includes assurances of the integrity and quality of all cryptographic algorithms used in the product, lack of major implementation errors, and "black-box testing" along with resistance to automated attacks."

With offices in Helsinki, Finland, and San Jose, CA, privately-owned Data Fellows is the leading technology provider of data security solutions for computer networks and desktop computers. In addition to the two ICSA-certified programs, its F-Secure data security product line also includes F-Secure Desktop to protect the data on the desktop and laptop; F-Secure Commerce for secure web connections, and the recently-introduced anti-virus product line F-Secure Anti-Virus for total enterprise virus protection and the highly regarded F-PROT Professional. The company's products are relied on by many of the world's largest companies, governments, universities and institutions. The products are available world-wide in more than 40 countries through Data Fellows and its business partners.