Press Releases

Press Release

NEW VANDYKE RELEASE IMPROVES SECURITY OF SECURE SHELL AUTHENTICATION

SecureCRT® 3.4 Provides X.509 Support For Smart Cards And Tokens

Albuquerque, N.M. (October 10, 2001) — VanDyke Software, a leading provider of security and access software, announced today the official release of its SecureCRT 3.4 secure client for Microsoft® Windows®. SecureCRT 3.4 introduces support for X.509-based digital certificates to allow SSH® connections to increase security by using smart cards and tokens for public-key authentication.

"X.509 support expands the authentication choices of Secure Shell in a direction that helps companies manage network access," said Jeff P. Van Dyke, president of VanDyke Software. "X.509 in SecureCRT is a building block for any security-conscious organization that is moving toward increased security and better management of public keys."

SecureCRT's X.509 support enables highly secure two-factor public-key authentication with X.509-compatible smart cards like Gemplus and Rainbow Technologies iKey(TM). Two-factor authentication combines a password or passphrase with a physical device like a smart card. If a password is guessed or learned or a smart card lost or stolen, security cannot be compromised. Only the combination of both factors allows access.

SecureCRT 3.4 also increases public-key authentication options for connecting to SSH servers. The release supports the private and public key formats of OpenSSH software, a popular open-source implementation of the SSH protocol. Version 3.4 also is compatible with OpenSSH Agent forwarding, which allows transparent authentication to multiple linked servers after the first server has authenticated the user.

Encryption technology for SecureCRT is licensed from RSA Security, Inc., of San Mateo, California, www.rsasecurity.com. The DES and 3DES ciphers from RSA are certified for government use under the NIST FIPS 140-1 standard. SecureCRT's strong encryption technology is available outside the US and Canada, subject to export and import regulation by the U.S. and other governments.

SecureCRT 3.4 is priced at US$99 for a single license, US$850 for 10 licenses, and US$5700 for 100 licenses. SecureCRT is also available in a bundled version with SecureFX®, a secure file transfer client, for US$129.00. The software supports Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 98, and Windows 95. Fully functional evaluation software may be downloaded worldwide from www.vandyke.com.

VanDyke Software is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The VShell™ SSH2™ server and SecureFX file transfer client complete the company's secure product offering. Further information on VanDyke Software is available on the Internet at www.vandyke.com, by e-mail at Marc.Orchant@vandyke.com, or by calling (505) 332-5755.

©2001 VanDyke Software. All Rights Reserved. VShell, SecureCRT, and SecureFX are trademarks or registered trademarks of VanDyke Software. SSH2 is a trademark of SSH Communications Security Oyj in the United States and/or other countries. All other products and services mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.