REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 17, 2000 — Microsoft Corp. and CyberSafe Corp., a leading provider of enterprise network security solutions, today announced they have collaborated to extend Microsoft® Windows® 2000-Kerberos interoperability to enterprise customers operating mixed-system environments. Based on cooperative efforts with mutual customers such as Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Co., this announcement validates the interoperability of Kerberos v5 in the Windows 2000 operating system, with other Kerberos implementations in real-world, customer environments, bringing to the enterprise heightened security as well as the flexibility to continue utilizing existing infrastructure investments.
“Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Institutional Securities has relied on Kerberos authentication for our mission-critical trading for years,”
said Steven Ruegnitz, principal, Enterprise Applications and Security at Morgan Stanley.
“It was important to us that Microsoft and CyberSafe show that their systems would work not only with each other but also with the rest of our enterprise. By utilizing both Windows 2000 Server technologies and CyberSafe network security software, we will be able to interoperate smoothly and securely across our UNIX and Microsoft distributed systems. This interoperation is an essential building block from a security perspective as well as being an advantage to our users by reducing the need for multiple passwords.”
Kerberos v5 is an industry-standard network authentication protocol, designed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to provide
“proof of identity”
on the network. Kerberos v5 is a native feature of Windows 2000 and will be shipped as part of the operating system to provide secure, interoperable network authentication services to IT professionals. Interoperability between Windows 2000 and Activ e TRUST™ from CyberSafe provides enterprise customers with a number of key benefits, including these:
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Customers working in a mixed environment of clients and servers from both Microsoft and CyberSafe can benefit from secured communications and data transfers, accessible only by Kerberos validation.
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Windows 2000 interoperates seamlessly with all CyberSafe-supported platforms, including Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Tru64, OS/390, Windows 9x and Windows NT® .
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Newly created or changed passwords are viewable by all networked systems, in turn reducing administration costs.
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A single sign-on feature gives users access to all network resources.
”
As the leading supplier of Kerberos security solutions, we are very excited that emerging products, such as Windows 2000, are using Activ e TRUST as their testing standard to prove interoperability,”
said Jim Cannavino, chairman and CEO, CyberSafe.
”
Our enterprise customers have always looked to us to provide critical security and interoperability between diverse ‘proof of identity’ systems. Including identity management for Windows 2000 was a natural extension of the secure administration and brokering capabilities of Activ e TRUST for all test environments.”
The collaboration included lab testing at Microsoft and CyberSafe, and test deployment at customer sites such as Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Successful interoperability between Windows 2000 and Activ e TRUST was demonstrated in all test scenarios. Microsoft and CyberSafe offer these valuable test results as implementation guidelines to customers with similar heterogeneous environments.
“Microsoft is dedicated to keeping our customers’ networks secure, and Windows 2000 is the most secure operating system we have ever shipped,”
said Keith White, director of Windows marketing at Microsoft.
“This announcement demonstrates the commitment of CyberSafe and Microsoft to open standards and interoperability, benefiting our mutual customers such as Morgan Stanley Dean Witter with heterogeneous environments.”
Microsoft and CyberSafe have compiled their test results in a detailed Kerberos implementation paper specifically for heterogeneous environments.
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Kerberos Interoperability: Microsoft Windows 2000 and CyberSafe Activ e TRUST”
is available at RSA Conference 2000 in San Jose, Calif., and soon will be available on the CyberSafe Web site, http://www.cybersafe.com/ .
About CyberSafe
CyberSafe is a privately held corporation founded in 1991. Its award-winning TrustBroker TM Security Suite, Defensor® , and Centrax TM product lines are designed to enable secure electronic business, while reducing administration costs. Leading investors in the company include Accel Partners, Deutsche Bank London, Financial Technology Ventures, OAK Investment Partners and Polaris Venture Partners. CyberSafe is headquartered in Issaquah, Wash., and is on the World Wide Web at http://www.cybersafe.com/ . Additional information can be requested via e-mail, [email protected].
About Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Co. is a pre-eminent global financial services company and a market leader in securities, asset management and credit services. The company’s top-ranked research, along with world-class product origination, asset management and other extensive resources, create a unique combination of capabilities that provide both individual and institutional clients with access to the most comprehensive array of high-quality products and services in the financial services industry today. The company has offices in New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other principal financial centers around the world and has 464 branch offices serving individual investors throughout the United States.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
CyberSafe, Defensor and the CyberSafe logo are registered trademarks of CyberSafe Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiaries.
Activ e Trust, TrustBroker and Centrax are trademarks of CyberSafe Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiaries.
Microsoft, Windows and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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