Assigned to Entrust in 2005 by the Eastman Chemical Company, this patent was issued on January 27, 1998 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Among other things, the '627 Patent covers all methods for determining whether a person seeking access to a secured system is authorized to do so where the determination about the right to access the secured system is confirmed using some form of grid authentication with or without an accompanying password.

This kind of authentication system typically would use grid cards that are distributed to persons authorized to access a secured system or resource, such as an online bank account. A person with one of those cards who wants to access a secured resource would be challenged to prove they have the grid card that was distributed to them by answering questions about the contents of that card -- helping prove that the person is who they say they are. To date, the grid authentication method has shown itself to be especially attractive for organizations looking to reduce the cost and complexity of securing their applications.

"We knew this would be a user-friendly way for financial institutions, governments and other enterprises to add a layer of authentication suited to mass consumer deployment," said Entrust Chief Technology Officer Chris Voice. "That's why we acquired a patent covering this technological innovation."

Entrust IdentityGuard first delivered grid authentication in December 2004 and has seen immediate success:

First year sales of $2.0 million with 29 customers and 88 pilots.

2005 credential sales representing 2.4 million users.

Integrations with leading remote access vendors including Check Point Software Technologies, Citrix Systems, F5, Juniper Networks, Microsoft and Nortel.

Major customer wins including the Government of Sweden, Commercebank, New Zealand Government and SCHUFA.

"Acquisition of the '627 Patent serves as a foundation for Entrust to deliver a best-in-class product for our customers. The patent joins Entrust's significant portfolio of intellectual property, demonstrating our commitment to leading the industry with innovative technologies," said Chris Voice, Chief Technology Officer. "Now that financial institutions have the added challenge of becoming FFIEC compliant with a two-factor authentication mandate, they are looking for flexible solutions to address that need which also can be deployed on a mass scale. Grid authentication is an important part of the broad suit of authentication capabilities delivered by Entrust to address this and other needs with a comprehensive risk-based security solution."