nCipher announces new payShield BACSTEL-IP product

  • A new hardware security module specifically for BACSTEL-IP customers

nCipher plc (LSE:NCH), a leading provider of IT cryptographic security, today announced payShield™ BACSTEL-IP, a hardware security module (HSM) that specifically addresses the security requirements required by BACS Payment Schemes Limited for the award winning BACSTEL-IP automated service.

BACSTEL-IP is the new high-speed online payment and collection service that uses an advanced Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) developed by Voca Limited. This development meets the growing demand for more secure and efficient payment services including payroll, Direct Credit and Direct Debit collections.  By December 2005 all businesses using automated payments will be required to migrate to BACSTEL-IP. Once migrated, businesses will benefit from the highest level of security in payment submission and report requesting.

To ensure that the overall security of BACSTEL-IP is maintained at the highest level, only solutions that pass rigorous testing and approval are able to gain access to the BACSTEL-IP service network. nCipher HSMs have been integrated with a wide range of approved BACSTEL-IP software solutions, including those from Accountis, Barron McCann, Bottomline Technologies, Eiger Systems and Microgen. The use of an HSM is required for any organisation wishing to take advantage of the automated submission service. This is of particular importance to high volume users and payment bureaux.

Mike Hutchinson, BACSTEL-IP Migration Manager at Voca says: “BACSTEL-IP provides major improvements for our business customers giving them greater security and control”. “nCipher HSMs already form part of the security infrastructure and we are delighted that nCipher has demonstrated its commitment to the BACSTEL-IP service with the introduction of an HSM specifically tailored to migrating businesses.”

nCipher’s hardware security technology is well proven in the payments industry. nCipher’s HSMs are deployed within Voca Limited’s own infrastructure to secure the cryptographic keys and certificate management processes. The payShield BACSTEL-IP HSM is specifically tailored to meet the requirements of businesses and enable them to complete the migration to the new system.

“The deployment of hardware security modules is the best approach for establishing certifiable levels of security in high volume installations for BACSTEL-IP” says Rhys Jones, Managing Director at Accountis. “nCipher’s payShield BACSTEL-IP meets the stringent standards required by BACS Payment Schemes Limited and provides an excellent combination of hardware security and performance that integrates seamlessly with our BACSactive-IP software.”

“nCipher is well established as a provider of hardware security technology to banks and other providers of financial services” says Ron Carter, Payments Product Manager at nCipher. “Our integration with the leading BACSTEL-IP software providers reinforces both our success in the electronic payments and PKI markets. This enables us to play an important role in the widespread adoption of this important initiative.”

For further information     
nCipher Corporation Ltd
Liz Harris, Tel: +44 (0) 1223 723600, email: liz@ncipher.com

BACS Payment Schemes Limited: BACSTEL-IP 
Website: www.bacstel-ip.com
Ana Bolitho, Tel+44(0) 870 920 8625, email: ana.bolitho@voca.co.uk

NOTES TO EDITORS

About BACS Payment Schemes Limited (www.bacs.co.uk)
BACS Payment Schemes Limited is the membership based ‘not for profit’ industry body whose role is to develop, enhance and promote the use and integrity of automated payment and payment related services. It also governs the rules and legal structures under which payments are made and promotes best practice amongst those companies who offer payment services. Its principal products are Direct Debit, Direct Credit, and standing orders. These products generated over four billion transactions from over 60,000 UK businesses of all types during 2003.

About Voca Limited (www.voca.co.uk)
Voca’s infrastructure offers over 100,000 businesses, including the FTSE 100, the most scaleable, robust and functionally-rich payments engine in the world. In 36 years of operation it has handled over 50 billion secure transactions and never lost a payment. Voca Ltd one of the world’s largest and most advanced transaction infrastructures used by BACS Payment Schemes Limited to process its Direct Debit and Direct Credit payments in the UK including over 90% of salaries.

About nCipher
nCipher provides hardware and software solutions that enable organisations to implement best practice IT security by addressing the technical challenges of using encryption.

The IT security industry has developed universal standards for protecting the confidentiality of information as it passes through the Internet by means of encryption. These standards are what allow the web browser of a desktop PC to communicate securely with a website anywhere in the world, giving rise to the familiar ‘padlock’ icon on the browser’s screen. nCipher products called ‘Hardware Security Modules’ or ‘HSMs’ support these industry encryption standards and protect the encryption keys that must remain an absolute secret for encryption to have any benefits. Our products have received more hardware security validations than those of any vendor in the world, following testing administered by the US Government’s National Institute for Standards and Technology.

Many of the world's leading organisations - from Microsoft and Barclays Bank to PricewaterhouseCoopers and the U.S. Navy - rely on nCipher to deliver a sound IT security infrastructure. nCipher's products are particularly well suited to organisations with high volumes of security-sensitive transactions, such as banking and financial institutions, government departments, online retailers and online service providers.

nCipher is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:NCH) and is a member of the FTSE TechMARK and FTSE4 Good indices with offices in Cambridge, UK; Boston, Seattle, Washington, Hamburg and Tokyo. For more information on nCipher, visit www.ncipher.com.