Provider of widely deployed, award-winning remote access solutions chooses Certicom developer toolkits to provide strong, transparent security to customers

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario –(January 20, 2004)– Certicom Corp. (TSX: CIC), a leading provider of wireless security solutions, today announced that Expertcity is using Security Builder® Crypto™ and Security Builder® SSL™ developer toolkits to embed enhanced security features into its next generation of web-based remote-access and customer-support technologies.

Expertcity customers, who use the Internet to access their desktops, demand strong security. For that reason, Expertcity decided to integrate the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Testing (NIST). Expertcity also wanted access to highly –efficient public key cryptography for use in key exchange and authentication protocols. They chose Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and Certicom’s developer toolkits for its proven implementations.

In addition, Expertcity is using the Secure Remote Password (SRP) protocol, found within Certicom's Security Builder SSL toolkit. SRP is a password authentication and key-exchange protocol developed at Stanford University that is suitable for negotiating secure connections using user-supplied passwords. SRP addresses many of the problems traditionally associated with the use of user-friendly passwords.

“Since we made the commitment to go with AES, it only made sense to also have ECC and SRP within our portfolio of security tools. ECC is a long term investment for us because its strength and efficient size will be sufficient for many generations of systems,” said John Kennedy, chief security architect at Expertcity. “Our customers want the best security but they don’t want to see it. We reviewed other public key options but Certicom, with its expertise, came out on top.”

Several factors precipitated Expertcity’s decision to work with Certicom. First, Expertcity needed a cryptosystem with small key sizes that was optimized for constrained devices. Second, they needed a system that could support multiple platforms and would allow them to apply a common code base. Third, they wanted a partner whose core expertise is security and who would provide ongoing support and maintenance. Certicom met all of those requirements.

Security Builder Crypto has the most efficient implementations of ECC, which provides smaller key sizes with the highest strength-per-bit of any known public key today. As AES becomes more widely adopted, efficient public key cryptography becomes an increasingly important consideration to ensure the exchange of keys is equally secure. Security Builder Crypto also includes additional optimizations for standards-based algorithms, FIPS-validated algorithms and support for more than 30 platforms.

“The team at Expertcity understands that security is a critical component of their remote access technology. They also understand that to realize the true benefits of AES you need to implement an equally strong public key cryptosystem, ”said Tony Rosati, vice-president, marketing and product management at Certicom. “We‘re proud to be working with the Expertcity team and their award-winning solutions and look forward to a long term partnership that continues to offer their customers fast, flexible and secure access.”

About Expertcity
Expertcity, Inc. is the leading provider of managed real-time Web-based remote-access and customer-support technologies. The company's award-winning screen-sharing technology enables users to securely view and control a remote computer. Expertcity offers two products: GoToAssist™, a complete managed service that enables support centers and help desks to rapidly and seamlessly deliver virtual on-site support, and GoToMyPC®, a remote-access solution that enables individual users and enterprises, through the GoToMyPC Corporate managed service, to access and work on their PCs from any Internet location. The products consistently win best-in-class awards and reviews, including PC World's World-Class Award, PC Magazine's Editor's Choice Award, Customer Inter@ction's coveted CRM Excellence Award, Network World's Category Breaker Award and CNET's prestigious Editors' Choice Award. Expertcity has more than 4,000 corporate clients worldwide, including Cisco Systems, Siemens, Sun Microsystems, Verizon, Best Software, Intuit, Cablevision and Microsoft Business Solutions. Founded in 1997, Expertcity is privately held, with financial backing by Sun Microsystems, CNET, Bertelsmann Ventures and SoundView Ventures. The company is headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA, with its European operations based in the UK.

About Certicom
Certicom is a leading provider of wireless security solutions, enabling developers, governments and enterprises to add strong security to their devices, networks and applications. Designed for constrained devices, Certicom’s patented technologies are unsurpassed in delivering the strongest cryptography with the smallest impact on performance and usability. Certicom products and technologies are currently licensed to more than 300 customers including Cisco Systems, Motorola, the National Security Agency, Palm, Research In Motion, Sony Ericsson and Texas Instruments. Founded in 1985, Certicom is headquartered in Mississauga, ON, Canada, with offices in Ottawa, ON; Reston, VA; San Mateo, CA; and London, England. Visit www.certicom.com.

Certicom, Security Builder, Security Builder Crypto, Security Builder SSL, Security Builder PKI, Security Builder GSE, movianVPN, movianCrypt and movianMail are trademarks or registered trademarks of Certicom Corp. MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered trademarks in the US Patent & Trademark Office. Java and all other Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. The Bluetooth trademarks are owned by their proprietor and used by Motorola, Inc. under license. All other companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

Forward-Looking Statements
Except for historical information contained herein, this news 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, 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 principal 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 fourth 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 Canadian securities regulatory authorities.

The shares of the company described above have been offered only to qualified institutional buyers in reliance on Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and outside the United States pursuant to Regulation S of the Securities Act. The shares have not been registered under the Securities Act and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to a U.S. Person absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements.

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