External Certificate Authority accreditation to enable individuals and organizations to securely transact with U.S goverment agencies.

VeriSign, Inc., a provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, today announced that it has been accredited by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) as a supplier of digital certificate services under the External Certificate Authority (ECA) program, enabling individuals, organizations and contractors to securely communicate with U.S. government agencies.

VeriSign-issued ECA digital certificates provide an added layer of security to enable access to protected government Web sites and enable security for a variety of applications including email, remote access, and digitally-signed documents and electronic forms. To achieve ECA accreditation, VeriSign was required to demonstrate that its ECA Certificate Practices Statement complies with stringent ECA certificate policies. VeriSign also successfully completed interoperability testing at the DoD Joint Interoperability Test Center.

"The VeriSign ECA service will meet the federal government's e-Authentication requirements for levels 3 and 4 (medium and high assurance levels) and will provide interoperability with many external entities through the cross-certification of ECA with the Federal Bridge Certification Authority," said George Schu, vice president, Public Sector, VeriSign.“We are pleased to be an approved ECA service provider and anticipate that many federal, state and local government agencies will want to capitalize on the extensive DoD efforts in developing the ECA program," he added.