CertCo Inc., Entrust Technologies Inc. and GTE CyberTrust said they are participating
in a pilot project designed for banks to enable consumers and merchants to make
secure payments over the Internet.
The NACHA (National Automated Clearing House
Association) Internet Council CA Interoperability Pilot is helping to define
the business practices necessary to create a foundation for conducting secure
electronic commerce among banks, businesses, consumers and government, the
companies said.
Interoperability lets banks select the implementation which best meets their
business needs, the firms stated, while enabling their consumers and merchants to securely
authenticate themselves and then interact with any other consumer or merchant
over the Internet. The pilot is aimed at allowing unknown trading partners to
meet, confirm each other’s digital identities, negotiate privately, digitally
sign contracts, purchase goods and services and settle payments securely over
the Web.
CertCo, Entrust and GTE CyberTrust, as part of the NACHA pilot, said that for
the first time they achieved seamless inter-vendor compatibility using the
technology that will realize this vision–digital certificates and
signatures. The companies also said they demonstrated technological
compatibility to ensure digital certificates are trustworthy when a party in a
transaction relies on them.
The computer security vendors partnered with banks in the trial, which as
trusted institutions are a natural choice to issue, manage and revoke digital
certificates. The pilot proved, according to the companies, that a consumer can obtain a digital
certificate from a bank, purchase something from a merchant, then use the
certificate to digitally sign a debit authorization to pay
the merchant. The pilot, which was observed and documented by NACHA, focused
on technical interaction and business processes using digitally signed ACH
debit authorizations, mock accounts and mock account information.
For the purposes of the pilot, the following vendors and banks were paired:
CertCo and Digital Signature Trust with Zions Bank; Entrust Technologies with
Citibank; GTE CyberTrust with Mellon Bank; and VeriSign with Bank of America.
In the pilot, each bank demonstrated its ability to simultaneously issue
digital certificates from one technology vendor while accepting transactions
protected by certificates from another vendor. Also, each bank issued digital
certificates to select merchants to establish direct debit accounts through
which their customers could pay recurring consumer bills, such as their phone
or water bills, with complete security.
“The Internet Council pilot is a critical step in developing operating rules
and business practices for multi-purpose digital certificates,” said Elliott
C. McEntee, president and CEO of NACHA. “The pilot creates
a foundation for making the Internet a secure vehicle for conducting commerce
among banks, businesses, consumers and government.”
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