VeriSign and Certicom to Offer Unique Platform for Wireless Security

RSA CONFERENCE, SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., April 9, 2001 - VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq:VRSN), the leading provider of Internet trust services, and Certicom (Nasdaq: CERT; TSE: CIC) a leading provider of mobile e-business security, today announced a strategic relationship to provide the market with advanced levels of wireless security. VeriSign will leverage the benefits of Certicom's Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), the preferred security for wireless transactions, to provide its customers with digital certificates for handheld devices. Through this relationship, VeriSign will benefit from Certicom's success in deploying ECC technology onto wireless devices by issuing RSA-signed ECC digital certificates. This unique digital certificate service for the wireless industry combines the efficiency of ECC with the deployed infrastructure of the wired Internet, secured by VeriSign's RSA-based website digital certificates.

"For wireless e-commerce to succeed, application developers and service providers must deliver the same degree of trust and security which people have come to expect from the wired Internet," said Anil Pereira, senior vice president and group general manager of VeriSign's enterprise and service provider division. "Our alliance with Certicom is designed to enable just that, providing world-class, globally available and supported tools and services which work together seamlessly to deliver comprehensive e-commerce solutions."

VeriSign's Wireless Trust Services will now support RSA-signed ECC digital certificates. RSA is the most widely deployed security technology in the wired world and Certicom's ECC technology addresses the battery, storage and processing power limitations of mobile devices, allowing proven desktop public key infrastructure (PKI) security to be delivered straight to the mobile device. Leading healthcare, enterprise and e-commerce application developers will be able to use these certificates to enable trusted, secure connections between wireless users and websites on the wired Internet and to generate digitally signed transactions.

As part of this relationship, VeriSign will refer wireless developers requiring toolkits to Certicom. Certicom is the industry's leading supplier of security products for the wireless market including SSL Plus™, WTLS Plus™ and the Trustpoint™ PKI Portal.

"Though still in their infancy, wireless e-commerce applications are becoming a pervasive part of our economy, enabling high value transactions anytime, anywhere," said Richard Depew, executive vice president of Certicom. "We believe that our alliance with VeriSign will extend the reach of ECC globally, enabling a high degree of security for every wireless transaction."

About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq:VRSN) is the leading provider of trusted infrastructure services to web sites, enterprises, electronic commerce service providers and individuals. The company's domain name, digital certificate and payment services provide the critical web identity, authentication and transaction infrastructure that online businesses require to conduct secure e-commerce and communications. VeriSign's services are available through its Web site (www.verisign.com) or through its direct sales force and reseller partners around the world.

About Certicom
Certicom is a leading provider of information security software and services, specializing in solutions for mobile e-business. The company's products and services are specifically designed to address the challenges imposed by a wireless data environment. Certicom's solutions incorporate its efficient encryption technology and are based on industry standards for information security that utilize public key cryptography. Certicom's products are currently licensed to more than 150 customers including ePocrates, Inc., Motorola, Inc., NeoPoint, Inc., Nortel Networks, Openwave Systems, Palm, Inc., Pixo, Inc., QUALCOMM, Inc., Research In Motion Ltd. and Sony International (Europe) GmbH. Certicom's headquarters and worldwide sales and marketing operations are based in the Silicon Valley in Hayward. For more information, visit Certicom's Web site at http://www.certicom.com.

Certicom is a trademark of Certicom Corp. All other companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Except for historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. Factors that might cause a difference include, but are not limited to, those relating to the acceptance of mobile and wireless devices and the continued growth of e-commerce and m-commerce (mobile e-commerce), the increase of the demand for mutual authentication in m-commerce transactions, the acceptance of Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) technology as an industry standard, the market acceptance of our principle products and sales of our customer's products, the impact of competitive products and technologies, the possibility of our products infringing patents and other intellectual property of third parties, and costs of product development. Certicom will not update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. More detailed information about potential factors that could affect Certicom's financial results is included in the documents Certicom files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulatory authorities including Certicom's current Annual Report on Form 10-K.


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