Gartner Names Entrust as 'Leader' in 2009 Web Fraud Detection Magic Quadrant

Industry leader builds momentum on Gartner recognition, 70 percent increase in customer growth rate and key customer wins

DALLAS, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Entrust, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENTU) , has consistently been positioned as a visionary and innovator in the multifactor authentication and fraud detection market. Today, Gartner Inc. confirmed what many customers believe as well by naming Entrust as one of the "leaders" in the research firm's newly created 2009 Web Fraud Detection Magic Quadrant.

"Effective fraud detection will always be necessary for companies whose financial accounts are vulnerable to attack. Expect fraud attacks to increase in the deteriorated economic environment," said Gartner analyst Avivah Litan in the firm's November 2008 report, "Impact of Financial Crisis on Fraud Prevention Markets."

Based on Entrust's comprehensive fraud detection and multifactor authentication solutions -- comprised of Entrust TransactionGuard and Entrust IdentityGuard -- Gartner's Web Fraud Detection Magic Quadrant placed Entrust in the top right quadrant, the leadership position, based on its "ability to execute" and the company's "completeness of vision."

"This industry recognition, in addition to an increase of 70 percent in customer growth rates and key customer wins, confirms that Entrust is a leader in the fraud detection and multifactor authentication market," said Entrust President and CEO Bill Conner. "Large financial institutions and security-conscious organizations across the world successfully thwart fraud with cost-effective Entrust solutions; many more will continue to do so in 2009 and beyond."

The newly created 2009 Web Fraud Detection Magic Quadrant, released February 6, 2009, evaluated IT security vendors on key elements that help define a company's vision and ability to execute. According to Gartner, magic quadrant "leaders" are vendors who are performing well today, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market.

A sampling of Entrust's strengths in this market, according to Gartner's report, include the interoperability and versatility of the Entrust IdentityGuard multifactor authentication solution, a flexible rules engine, real-time capabilities and strong customer service.

Strict criteria had to be met before a vendor was included in Gartner's research: recent product availability in the market; solution's proven in real-world deployment in customer environments; the organization must be considered a significant player, established via market presence or innovation in the fraud market and more.

Global organizations continue to seek methods to help stop persistent fraud attacks on invaluable information, customer identities and brand image. According to the fourth annual "U.S. Cost of a Data Breach Study," research released in February 2009 by PGP and the Ponemon Institute, the average total per-incident cost for a data breach in 2008 was $6.65 million. This represents an increase of more than $300,000 per incident in 2007 and a 40 percent jump since the study's inception in 2005.

On Jan. 20., Heartland Payment Systems, a New Jersey-based credit card processing company, announced in a news release that as many as 100 million customer accounts may have been compromised after malicious software enabled a security breach in the organization's payment processing system. The breach, which Heartland says it first discovered in October 2008, is yet another example of organizations not implementing the proper security solutions that could help prevent fraud before it occurs.

Entrust offers one of the most flexible, comprehensive fraud detection solutions on the market today. By leveraging this cost-effective solution, organizations not only will help reduce loss from fraud, but also instill confidence in their customer base and increase overall brand image.

Entrust TransactionGuard transparently monitors user behavior to identify anomalies, and then calculates the risk associated with a particular transaction -- all seamlessly and in real time. Unlike competitive offerings, Entrust TransactionGuard can analyze all points of interaction with the user on the Web site, allowing organizations to gain a complete picture of potentially fraudulent behavior using built-in case management and reporting features. Entrust TransactionGuard is a zero-touch solution that captures all the data in a session and does not require integration with back-end applications. The solution enables organizations to leverage both a statistical analysis and rules-based approach to fraud detection, allowing the system to react quickly to specific known types of fraud while also automatically learning about users and automatically generating risk scores based on evolving behavior.

Entrust IdentityGuard enables organizations to layer security -- according to access requirements or the risk of a given transaction -- across diverse users and applications. The platform's authentication options include strong username and password, IP-geolocation, device, questions and answers, out-of-band one-time passcode (delivered via voice, SMS or e-mail), grid cards, eGrid cards and a range of one-time-password tokens. Entrust IdentityGuard also provides multiple methods of supporting mutual authentication, including picture and caption replay.

Entrust IdentityGuard is recognized as a benchmark for strong multifactor authentication and helps address a range of security and regulatory legislation requirements. Leading financial institutions, enterprises and government agencies have deployed the platform, including DnB Nor, Expedia, Commerce Bank, Bank of New Zealand, Banco Santander Santiago, Goteborg University, Ministry of Economic Development of New Zealand, SCHUFA, Arbetsformedligen, Alaska Law Enforcement Information Sharing System, Vejle Amt, Aristex, Swedish National Labor Market Administration, Skanska and more.

About Entrust

Entrust (NASDAQ: ENTU) secures digital identities and information for consumers, enterprises and governments in more than 2,000 organizations spanning 60 countries. Leveraging a layered security approach to address growing risks, Entrust solutions help secure the most common digital identity and information protection pain points in an organization. These include SSL, authentication, fraud detection, shared data protection and e-mail security. For information, call 888-690-2424, e-mail entrust@entrust.com or visit www.entrust.com.

Entrust is a registered trademark of Entrust, Inc. in the United States and certain other countries. In Canada, Entrust is a registered trademark of Entrust Limited. All Entrust product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of Entrust, Inc. or Entrust Limited. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.