CERTICOM APPOINTS KARNA GUPTA AS NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario – (January 8, 2008) – The Board of Directors of Certicom Corp. (TSX: CIC) (the “Company”) today announced that it has appointed Karna Gupta as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors, effective January 21, 2008, replacing Mr. Bernard Crotty, currently serving as President and Chief Executive Officer on an interim basis. Mr. Crotty will remain on the Board of Certicom. The Board of Directors also announces that Mr. Jeffrey S. Chisholm currently acting as Lead Director becomes Chairman of Certicom effective immediately.

“The Board is delighted to welcome a seasoned executive like Karna Gupta to lead the company in the execution of its growth strategy,” said Jeffrey S. Chisholm, Chairman. “Karna is a proven innovator and strategic thinker with an impressive track record of developing and delivering next-generation software solutions to key markets, including mobility, enterprise and service providers. He has excelled at growing businesses globally and has built impressive customer relationships in North America, Europe and Asia. The Board also wishes to thank Mr. Crotty for his leadership and direction during this interim period.”

Mr. Gupta most recently held the role of President for the Real-Time Billing Division of Comverse Technologies in New Jersey. In this role, he held profit and loss responsibility and managed all aspects of the product division, including developing the latest solutions for service providers, managing a globally-distributed workforce and serving a global customer base. His previous role in Comverse was Chief Marketing Officer for Comverse Americas. He also held the roles of the Business Development and CTO reporting to him.

Prior to his tenure with Comverse, Mr. Gupta held several executive leadership positions with Bell Canada, including Vice President, Product Development and Management. He was responsible for Competitive Network Services and under his leadership Bell Canada became a recognized world leader in Enhanced Services.

“Certicom is a dynamic company with strong potential and an important role to play as the leader in next-generation security solutions,” said Mr. Gupta. “As the global leader in Elliptic Curve Cryptography, its emerging portfolio of complete security solutions is being embraced by industry leaders such as Bally Technologies and Texas Instruments. With our strong financial foundation Certicom is able to drive the global adoption of ECC, develop and defend our powerful portfolio of intellectual property and continue to meet the evolving needs of the marketplace.”

Mr. Gupta holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Master of Business Administration degree in Marketing and Finance from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. He has also attended executive development programs at Duke University, Harvard, MIT and the University of Western Ontario.

ABOUT CERTICOM

Certicom protects the value of content, applications and devices with government-approved security. Adopted by the National Security Agency (NSA) for government communications, Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) provides the most security per bit of any known public-key scheme. As the global leader in ECC, Certicom security offerings are currently licensed to more than 300 customers including General Dynamics, Motorola, Oracle, Research In Motion and Unisys. Founded in 1985, Certicom's corporate offices are in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada with worldwide sales and marketing headquarters in Reston, Virginia and offices in the U.S., Canada, Europe and China. Visit www.certicom.com.

For further information, please contact:

Media

John Callahan

Director, Public Relations & Marketing Communications

Certicom Corp.

(703) 234-2357

jcallahan@certicom.com

Investors and Financial Analysts

Hervé Séguin

Chief Financial Officer

Certicom Corp.

hseguin@certicom.com

Certicom, Certicom ECC Core, Certicom Security Architecture, Certicom Trust Infrastructure, Certicom CodeSign, Certicom KeyInject, Security Builder, Security Builder API, Security Builder BSP, Security Builder Crypto, Security Builder ETS, Security Builder GSE, Security Builder IPSec, Security Builder MCE, Security Builder NSE, Security Builder PKI and Security Builder SSL are trademarks or registered trademarks of Certicom Corp. All other companies and products listed herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Information subject to change.

Except for historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things: the ability of the Company to successfully implement its strategic initiatives and whether such strategic initiatives will yield the expected benefits; the ability of the Company to develop, promote and protect its proprietary technology security breaches or defects in the Company's products; competitive conditions in the businesses in which the Company participates; changes in consumer spending; the outcome of legal proceedings as they arise; general economic conditions and normal business uncertainty; consolidation in the Company's industry and by its customers; customer preferences towards product offerings; the risk that customers may cancel their contracts with the Company; reliance on a limited number of customers; demand for ECC-based technology; performance of the Company's management team and the Company's ability to attract and retain skilled employees; operating the Company's business profitably; fluctuations in revenue and foreign currency exchange rates; interest rate fluctuations and other changes in borrowing costs; the ability to develop and maintain strategic relationships; and other factors identified under the heading "Risk Factors in the Company's annual information" form dated July 26, 2006 and filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.