News

Mobile Internet Technology Expert, Professor Hannu H. Kari, Joins SSH

SSH Communications Security (SSH), the world-leading developer of Internet security technologies, today announced a research and development initiative to build solutions for securing mobile and wireless Internet communications based on its industry-leading Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) technology.

Professor Hannu H. Kari, the director of Telecommunications and Software Engineering Institute at Helsinki University of Technology, will join SSH's efforts to develop mobile and wireless security solutions designed for widespread business and consumer use. Kari is regarded as one of the leading European visionaries of mobile Internet technologies. He is one of the main contributors behind the development of the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile telephony standard. During recent years, professor Kari has managed numerous research programs focused on mobile and wireless Internet technologies and applications at Helsinki University of Technology.

"The strength, growth and sustainability of the Internet rests on four cornerstones - diverse physical data transfer mechanisms, flexible transfer protocols like the Internet Protocol (IP), mobility and security," explained professor Kari. "The independence of physical data transfer and the actual transfer protocols is the crucial strength of the Internet in comparison with the traditional telecommunication world. Mobility allows the access to all Internet services independently of time and place, and security is the vital ingredient for safely using Internet applications end-to-end across public networks. I am excited to work with SSH to develop the technology that brings these four enablers together, ultimately enabling to build completely new services for mobile users."

SSH considers the mobile and wireless Internet as one of its key focus areas. "The market for reliable, impenetrable wireless security is growing at a phenomenal rate," said Markku Kangas, president and CEO of SSH, Corp. "We are committed to investing the resources required to meet these challenging security needs. By leveraging our position as the leading provider of IPSec solutions, we will work towards providing a security platform for mobile and wireless Internet traffic."

SSH, in cooperation with other technology companies, will continue to lead research and engineering efforts aimed at building truly secure IP-based wireless networks and applications.

SSH's future products will be specifically designed for mobile and wireless networks. According to Tatu Ylönen, founder and CTO of SSH, Corp., "The future of wireless Internet is based on a number of alternative radio technologies between the mobile terminal and the fixed network, and seamless transfer from one technology to another. The common ground for all different radio technologies is Internet Protocol. Most of the current standards, such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), offer limited, cost-prohibitive access to Internet content. Today's wireless network technologies and future broadband solutions underscore the need for a more cost-effective, comprehensive security platform - SSH is leading this charge with our efforts to develop next-generation mobile and wireless Internet technology."

Mr. Ylönen is scheduled to address the future of mobile Internet security in his keynote presentation during Internet Expo 2000 on August 24 in Helsinki, Finland.

An Established Leader in Internet Security

SSH has been a pioneer in the development of mobile and wireless Internet security since 1998. The company was responsible for analyzing the security of WTLS (Wireless Transport Layer Security), the security mechanism of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). In 1999, SSH partnered with Sonera SmartTrust to develop solutions for secure mobile e-commerce and wireless Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). SSH, along with other Finnish companies, also initiated a research project for wireless value-added services co-financed by Finnish National Technology Agency, Tekes. At the beginning of 2000 SSH introduced the first IPSec toolkit optimized for Internet appliances, such as handheld network devices.

About IPSec

IPSec is an IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) standard for protecting IP traffic using cryptography on the packet level. This protocol is the predominant security technology used in VPNs (Virtual Private Networks). A driving force for IPSec, VPNs allow users to establish secure data communications between multiple networks or network devices using insecure public networks such as the Internet. SSH's IPSec technology adds scaleable, strong security to IP networks, without limiting its flexibility to enable new types of business opportunities, such as secure local and global communications between companies, e-commerce and e-banking. SSH IPSEC Express™ is the world's leading toolkit for IPSec.

In May 2000, the 3G Partnership Project (3GPP) responsible for the development of next-generation cellular networks, endorsed IP version 6 (IPv6) as the core element for these networks. IPSec is a mandatory element of IPv6, leading to the fact that all standards-compliant network equipment must adhere to this security platform.

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