Affinity Internet Adopts VeriSign's Security and Authentication Solutions for Its Shared Hosting Customers

HostReview.com
Monday, November 18, 2002; 12:00 AM

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov 18, 2002 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- VeriSign, Inc. (VRSN) , the leading provider of digital trust services, today announced that Affinity Internet Inc., the industry's third-largest Web Hosting Company, has signed an agreement to be a Premier Partner and begun providing its online merchants the complete suite of VeriSign digital certificates and authentication services. These services upgrade the level of security and authentication for thousands of Affinity's online merchants providing a more trusted online shopping experience for consumers.

Through the agreement, Affinity offers the full suite of VeriSign Web site security and authentication solutions including VeriSign and Thawte SSL certificates and VeriSign's Shared Hosting Security Service (SHSS). SHSS provides Affinity's online merchants with the same authentication and encryption technology available to large enterprises while Affinity customers enjoy the proven increase in traffic and completed consumer transactions that come from having a site that displays the VeriSign seal. Currently, small and medium-sized businesses using a hosting provider usually offer only encryption services, via the hosting company's server certificate.

"As a leading provider of hosting services on the Internet, we want to ensure our merchants that they have access to the safest methods possible to communicate and transact business online," said John Enright vice president of product development for Affinity. "Our merchants have informed us that they want a solution that is secure, broadly compatible, and which assures consumers that they are safe to do business with. The Shared Hosting Security Service from VeriSign is the only service that we've seen on the market that can achieve these results for our shared hosting merchants."

SHSS provides online merchants with proven and audited authentication and encryption practices. With VeriSign's SHSS, Affinity's customers will each be individually authenticated and provided with their own Secure Site Seal enabling them to ensure consumers that they are a legitimate business and they have the right to do business online. The VeriSign seal is quickly becoming the most recognized symbol of online trust, displayed at over 25,000 of the top shopping sites on the Internet.

SHSS also provides:
-- Shared encryption capabilities using either a Global Server Certificate
or Secure Server Certificate
-- Web site security that includes automated and person-to-person
authentication procedures as well as encryption on a shared hosting
platform
-- An industry accepted model for issuing digital certificates which
complies with KPMG and WebTrust and AICPA (American Institute for CPAs)
emerging standards for enabling SSL in a shared hosting environment
-- One of the Internet's most recognized consumer trust seals that helps
drive additional click through and e-commerce revenue for merchants

"Small and medium-sized businesses account for the lion's share of Web sites on the Internet, but they don't have the same level of consumer trust as large enterprises," said Ben Golub, senior vice president of VeriSign's Web trust and payments group. "Since over 60 percent of consumers are still fearful of credit card theft, lack of consumer trust can mean the death knell for a small online business. Our SHSS service allows Affinity to pass along the same level of authentication and security services to their small and medium-sized companies that large companies obtain on their own private servers. It provides consumers with a new level of trust and helps merchants grow their business."

VeriSign's announcement with Affinity is part of VeriSign's Trusted Commerce business initiative designed to improve security for businesses and consumers transacting and communicating over the Internet. The agreement with Affinity follows VeriSign's recent announcements of adoption of SHSS services by other major hosting companies in the U.S. and Europe, VeriSign's support for emerging authentication standards that govern SSL encryption from the AICPA, and VeriSign's agreement with MasterCard to provide authentication and fraud protection services to customers.

About Affinity

Affinity Internet Inc., a Top 10 hosting provider, specializes in hosting solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. One of the few profitable web hosting companies, Affinity operates multiple branded hosting services, each offering shared and/or dedicated servers, applications and products designed to meet the specific needs of one of the segments of the SMB marketplace.

Affinity hosts more than 275,000 domains for more than 100,000 customers worldwide. The company sells direct over the web and through more than 2,000 resellers or channel partners. The company has offices in El Segundo, Calif. and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with data centers in Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale.

For more information visit www.winsave.com or www.affinity.com.

About VeriSign, Inc.

VeriSign, Inc. is the leading provider of digital trust services that enable everyone, everywhere to engage in commerce and communications with confidence. VeriSign's digital trust services create a trusted environment through four core offerings-Web presence services, telecommunications services, security services and payment services-powered by a global infrastructure that manages billions of network connections and transactions a day. Additional news and information about the company is available at www.verisign.com.

Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others: VeriSign's limited operating history under its current business structure; the risk that VeriSign and its acquired businesses will not be integrated successfully and unanticipated costs of such integration; uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results; failure of the combined company to retain and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees; failure of the combined company to manage its growth and the difficulty of successfully managing a larger, more geographically dispersed organization; failure of the combined company to successfully manage relationships with customers, suppliers and strategic customers; network outages, network capacity constraints or security breaches; failure of the combined company's customers to accept new services or to continue using the products and services of the combined company; and competition in the various markets serviced by the combined company. More information about potential factors that could affect the company's business and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, especially in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.

NOTE: VeriSign is a registered trademark of VeriSign, Inc. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.