ATLANTA, February 2, 1999 -- Equifax Secure Inc., the e-commerce solutions division of Equifax Inc., today announced the Equifax Secure E-Commerce Partners Program to provide a single, comprehensive resource for next-generation solutions to facilitate highly secure, private e-commerce over the Internet and other networks.

The Equifax Secure E-Commerce Partners Program includes organizations focused on Internet commerce, including security/privacy firms, systems integrators, independent software vendors and hardware providers as well as Internet service providers (ISPs). Targeted independent software vendors and systems integrators will offer public key infrastructure-based (PKI) applications dedicated to providing secure Internet communications. As the program evolves, other organizations will be targeted and qualified for inclusion in the program.

"Equifax Secure offers the industry’s first outsourced e-commerce solution to enable enterprises to authenticate end-users, secure business applications and manage digital certificates," said Vijay Balakrishnan, vice president of marketing, Equifax Secure, Inc. "The business partners program extends the availability of the e-commerce solutions from Equifax Secure and its certified business partners to bring consumer-direct, intra-company and business-to-business e-commerce applications across several channels."

Equifax Secure partners will support a variety of applications, including secure electronic mail, secure forms, electronic data interchange (EDI), virtual private networks (VPNs), supply chain management, credit/smart card processing/applications, internet banking, and remote secure access or single sign-on.

Founding members of the program include:VPN technology providers, Altiga Networks, Aventail, TimeStep, and V-ONE; Cylabs, an independent software vendor; Internet Security Systems (ISS), a leading provider of adaptive network security software; Internet Communications Network (ICN), an interactive architect; Tri-Sage, Inc., a security integrator and VPN managed service provider; PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the largest independent consulting firm in the world; and Aventail, an extranet management and security vendor.

To become an Equifax Secure e-commerce partner, organizations must present a business plan and demonstrate considerable knowledge and experience of e-commerce applications, including PKI. Potential partners also must actively pursue opportunities that will include the Equifax Secure service offering in their suite of products or services. Consulting firms should be actively engaged in either a security or privacy practice.

"A program of this type enables solution providers to communicate their e-commerce product offering through a strategic partnership with Equifax Secure," Balakrishnan said. "Together, we can leverage Equifax’s 100 years of innovation in managing large volumes of sensitive information and secure online transactions to deliver an array of security-rich e-commerce applications to our respective customers."

The Equifax Secure Difference

Bringing trusted e-commerce applications to market requires three capabilities: authenticating all parties involved in a given transaction; protecting transaction and data integrity and maintaining a new standard for personal and enterprise privacy. The Equifax Secure e-commerce solutions suite enables enterprises to implement applications to significantly reduce the risk, cost and complexity of assuring the privacy and integrity of electronic interactions.

More specifically, the Equifax Secure e-commerce solutions suite includes:

• A remote authentication service that in real time requests, compares and analyzes information against data from Equifax and other consumer and business information sources.
• Certificate management services to manage certificate lifecycles; and
• Directory services to access hosted repositories of customer-branded certificates.

"Our range of e-commerce services will provide a cost-effective, automated process to authenticate an individual's identity before issuing a certificate; a seamless certificate issuance process; and robust and scalable repositories to manage the life-cycle of large numbers of certificates," Balakrishnan said. "As with most outsourced services, the cost varies depending on the customer requirements; however, the solution suite does offer low cost entry that eliminates the need for investment in expensive in-house infrastructure, including hardware, software, people, training and physical security."

Equifax Secure supports multiple e-commerce applications, including, but not limited to: Consumer Direct: Bill Presentment and Payment and Online Customer Service; Home Banking; and Medical Records Access Control; Intra-Enterprise: Single Sign-On, Employee Benefits Management and Secure Document Exchange; and Business to Business: Purchasing, Procurement and Supply Chain integration.

Equifax Secure Inc. provides next-generation e-commerce solutions that enable enterprises to authenticate consumer identity, secure business applications and manage digital certificates for highly secure, private e-commerce over the Internet and other networks. Equifax Secure e-commerce solutions significantly reduce the risk, cost and complexity of assuring the privacy and security of electronic transactions and are available for companies across a wide range of industries.

EQUIFAX (NYSE: EFX) is a worldwide leader in shaping global commerce by bringing buyers and sellers together through its information, transaction processing, consulting and knowledge-based businesses. Equifax serves the banking, financial, retail, credit card, telecommunications/utilities, transportation and healthcare industries and government. Founded in 1899, Atlanta-based Equifax today has 14,000 employees in 18 countries and sales in more than 45 countries. Revenues for the year ended December 31, 1998, were more than $1.6 billion. For more Equifax information, visit the company's Internet web site at www.equifax.com.