Digital Certificates Get Mobilized by "E-Sign Act"

When the Electronic Signatures Act became law in early summer, digital certificate pioneer, Zions First National Bank, Salt Lake City, Utah, jumped in to showcase the technology it helped to develop in some new applications. In early July, the bank announced the availability of its TrustID digital certificates through its Digital Signature Trust Co. subsidiary, becoming the first bank to do so through a program sponsored by the ABA (which has an ownership position in Digital Signature Trust). Zions, which first got lured into digital certificate development from its work on a task force for Utah lawyers (see ABABI, December 1998, p.44) has some interesting uses of the TrustID certificates already in play for retail customers. One of these is a virtual lockbox application which allows digital versions (MS Word documents, typically) of documents such as wills, trusts, and financial records to be "locked" by a certificate and stored on the bank's server for access from the bank's website. Another application called "My Alerts" presents consumers with an e-mail reminder or warning message (also "locked" by certificate). "We have 150 customers using 400 different types of alerts, including an alert that monitors checking account balances should they go above or below a certain threshold and require specific action to be taken," explains Ron Hanks, Zions First National's senior vice-president of Internet banking. "About 200 customers are using the digital safe deposit boxes." Meanwhile, a pilot at the bank's affiliate, California Bank and Trust, is testing use of the technology in cash management, specifically to safeguard customer-initiated ACH and wireless transactions. Banks should take charge The bank's projects give the abstract technology some real world context. (Think of the digital signature as the result of using digital certificates, which make use of encryption schemes that incorporate Public Key Infrastructure and other robust methods. An individual's identity is confirmed--i.e., a digital signature is achieved--when a private key with a code representing his or her name is successfully linked to a public key that can "interlock" with only that private key.) Zions has been active in pursuing and promoting TrustID certificates as part of the ABA's program to promote digital certificate use (see Ogilvie p. 74). The bank sees use of digital certificates to secure digital documents and messages as an extension of its role as depository, notary, signature guarantor, and risk manager. "A key component to increasing the use of the Internet is the use of a security tool backed by policies and procedures," says Scott Lowry, president and CEO of Digital Signature Trust, Salt Lake City. He compares the emerging digital certificate market to the credit card industry to illustrate the need for rulemakers who define risk and risk management. This process, he says, represents a separate issue from the development of technical standards and protocols that make the certificates of different issuers interoperable--an issue that affects merchants wanting to accept the certificates on their websites. …