Issue #2003 - 28 (November 2003)
(Updated Nov. 4, 2003)
INFRASTRUCTURE, PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Certicom Licenses its Technology to National Security Agency of USA for $25 million
Today, Certicom announced a $25 million agreement with the National Security Agency: Certicom has licensed to the NSA intellectual property pertaining to elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). ECC will become a U.S. Government standard for protecting mission-critical national security information.
Strong encryption of classified information is essential on devices ranging from the latest high-performance servers to resource-constrained devices such as handheld computers and wireless handsets. ECC is the most efficient encryption technology for such devices, and this is what makes
it the best solution for the NSA.
What this means:
Any government agency (federal, state or local) that handles mission-critical national security information must now adopt ECC technology to secure transmission of classified information. The
NSA has been granted a license to supply ECC technology to such agencies.
Electronic device manufacturers and developers of products who supply the U.S. Government, and who meet the Field of Use specified by the NSA, must now implement ECC to ensure they meet
the new NSA specifications. The NSA will provide royalty-free licenses to these third parties, world-wide.
Significance of this agreement:
It demonstrates the U.S. Government's confidence in Certicom's core ECC technology and intellectual property.
It enables the NSA to enhance its encryption capabilities while taking advantage of the faster computation and lower power consumption hat ECC offers.
The NSA is such a large and influential proponent of advanced encryption schemes. Key establishment is a critical element of a comprehensive security system. This agreement places ECC at the forefront of public-key technologies.
Certicom is a pioneer in developing and refining ECC technology. As the owner of the intellectual property surrounding fundamental aspects of ECC, Certicom is now positioned as a key player in the prominent role that ECC will play when the NSA mandates its use for classified communications. This has significant revenue ramifications for Certicom.
Since it is such an efficient encryption algorithm, ECC will now certainly become more pervasive in wireless devices and applications. Certicom markets ECC toolkits and applications based
on ECC that enable handset and wireless device manufacturers to implement ECC-based encryption. A range of "Security Builder" toolkits is available to address a wide variety of applications.
For more information: http://www.certicom.com
MobileInfo Comments and Advisory: We want to applaud Certicom for this. It is ineed a validation of Toronto company's encryption technology. If anybody knows security, it is NSA. No better validation. More importantly, 25 million dollars at this critical time will keep the wolves away.