VeriSign Unveils Newly Designed Security Trust Mark to Aid Consumers in Identifying Safe Web Sites to Shop This Holiday Season
Survey of Consumers and Businesses Indicates that VeriSign`s Intelligence and Control(SM) Services for Commerce Security Aids Consumers` Online Purchasing Decisions
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 4 -- VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSN) , the leading provider of critical infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, today announced the availability a newly designed security trust mark for commercial Web site customers to demonstrate that their Web sites are safe places for consumers to transact this holiday season. The newly designed VeriSign Trust Mark(SM) is now available for VeriSign`s existing PKI customers and will be made available to new VeriSign customers later this month.
The VeriSign Trust Mark uses a dynamic, animated design making it more recognizable online and enables consumers to click on the mark and link directly to VeriSign servers that verify the business in real time. By clicking on the new VeriSign Trust Mark, consumers can verify a business`s legal name, determine the validity period for the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate, and view their city and state of incorporation.
VeriSign`s Trust Mark has already been adopted and deployed by leading companies across diverse retail segments of the Internet, including The Ansel Adams Gallery, Circuit City, Omaha Steaks, CompUSA, and Godiva Chocolatier.
"The Internet gives The Ansel Adams Gallery (www.AnselAdams.com) the opportunity to reach millions more customers than we do via our galleries in Yosemite National Park and Monterey, California," said Matthew Adams, president of The Ansel Adams Gallery. "Conveying the confidence and reassurance of working with a 100-year-old business is much more difficult online than face-to-face. The VeriSign Trust Mark is one element of establishing that high level of trust with new customers."
"Circuit City has built and continues to drive a trusted brand for our customers by offering the highest level of customer satisfaction," said Fiona Dias, president of Circuit City Direct (www.CircuitCity.com). "When you are selling online, you have to take customer satisfaction one step further by guaranteeing the transactions made on your site are secure. VeriSign allows circuitcity.com to ensure customers our site is a safe, secure place to shop."
Prior to launching its new trust mark, VeriSign surveyed more than 2,500 online businesses actively selling online and 2,500 consumers who shopped online at least once in the past thirty days. Eighty-four percent of those surveyed said that the VeriSign Trust Mark is important to them in determining where they choose to shop. Likewise, seventy percent of consumers said they expect to see the VeriSign Trust Mark displayed in all of the following locations before they make a purchase online: the front page, any page requiring input of personal information, and the check-out page.
More than ninety percent of businesses surveyed said that VeriSign is a name trusted by consumers and over half of the businesses surveyed said that displaying the VeriSign name on their site helps them in driving transaction revenue. Between 1.5 to 2 million consumers each month click on VeriSign`s current Secure Site Seal to ensure the companies they are considering doing business with are real.
According to the September 19, 2003 Forrester Research brief, 2003 US Online Holiday Sales: Merrier Than Ever, U.S. online sales will reach more than $100 billion this year. Forrester estimates that online holiday sales will grow by 42% over last year`s $8.4 billion to $12.2 billion.
"VeriSign has more than 375,000 digital certificates installed on Web servers around the world and we process as much as thirty percent of all North American e-commerce through our payments systems," said Mike Foley, vice president, VeriSign Security Services. "Our combination of bringing network intelligence to bear on commercial transactions and providing businesses of any size with unique control over their own security, has fostered considerable consumer trust in our online brand. The VeriSign Trust Mark gives consumers that recognizable icon to quickly and easily identify real businesses online that protect sensitive information from PC to Web site."
For consumers, the VeriSign Trust Mark ensures them that they`re dealing with a real business that protects all communications between consumers and their Web site by encrypting sensitive information with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. Before supplying businesses with a digital certificate and permitting them to display the VeriSign Trust Mark, VeriSign uses the industry`s most thorough authentication processes, including a combination of automated and person-to-person verifications to determine a business is truly who they say they are.
VeriSign`s authentication processes include verification of vital business information including valid proof of a business name, proper domain name ownership, and employment verification of the person requesting the digital certificate. Businesses and consumers can learn more about the VeriSign Trust Mark program by visiting http://www.verisign.com/seal/secure/index.html .
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc., delivers critical infrastructure services that make the Internet and telecommunications networks more intelligent, reliable and secure. Every day VeriSign helps thousands of businesses and millions of consumers connect, communicate, and transact with confidence. Additional news and information about the company is available at http://www.verisign.com/ .
Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign`s actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, VeriSign`s limited operating history under its current business structure; uncertainty of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results; the ability of VeriSign to successfully develop and market new services and customer acceptance of any new services; the risk that VeriSign`s announced strategic relationships may not result in additional products, services, customers and revenues; increased competition and pricing pressures; and risks related to potential security breaches. More information about potential factors that could affect the company`s business and financial results is included in VeriSign`s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the company`s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward- looking statements after the date of this press release.
NOTE: VeriSign is a registered trademark of VeriSign, Inc. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
CONTACT:
Media Relations
Patrick Burns
1-703-948-4471
pburns@verisign.com,
Investor Relations
Kathleen Bare
1-650-426-3241
kbare@verisign.com
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