Merchant e-Solutions Exceeds PCI Compliance Requirements With TriCipher Strong Authentication and Encryption Key Management

Redwood City and San Mateo CA, April 19, 2006 – Merchant e-Solutions, a leading payment processing firm for community banks and their merchants, and TriCipher, Inc., a leading provider of Future Proof Risk Based Authentication Solutions, today announced that Merchant e-Solutions will deploy the TriCipher Armored Credential System(TM) (TACS) to deliver risk based multi-factor authentication and encryption key management. According to Gartner, Inc., the cost of each account compromised in a data breach can range from $50 to $1,500 while the cost of protecting that data through encryption is only $6 to $60. Using TACS, Merchant e-Solutions will be able to comply with FFIEC guidance in protecting bank customer information and will meet and exceed the requirements of the payment card industry (PCI) for data encryption. Traditional data encryption products focus on managing the process of encrypting and decrypting data, whereas TriCipher focuses on managing the keys themselves and access to them.

"TriCipher was the best solution we found in giving us the flexibility to meet and exceed both the PCI standards and FFIEC guidance," said Jim Aviles, Manager for Products and Technology for Merchant e-Solutions. “We looked at numerous solutions and the TriCipher Armored Credential System was best for our encryption key management and strong authentication needs. In addition, the flexibility of the Authentication Ladder allows us to choose the right security strength for a particular user or application.”

Merchant e-Solutions is a leading payment processor for banks and their merchants. The company’s founders have over 100 years’ combined experience in payment processing, and members of the management team formerly ran Bank of America’s merchant business.

The TriCipher Armored Credential System has been selected to protect services at more than 8,000 banks and accounts holding over $1 trillion in combined assets. TriCipher’s unique approach is particularly well suited for payment processors because it combines management of data encryption keys for PCI compliance with strong authentication access to those keys.

“Merchant e-Solutions is on the forefront of a tightened security environment in the payment processing industry,” said Sandra Bergeron, Chairman of TriCipher. “They are one of the first to understand the need to better manage encryption keys and access to those keys to prevent data theft. Given recent events, more and more companies in this space will be looking beyond passing a PCI audit to creating true data security.”

About Merchant e-Solutions
Merchant e-Solutions (MeS), headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., provides comprehensive, state-of-the-art payment processing services, acquiring management consultancy and a full-service product line to acquiring industry, including community and regional banks and small/middle market retailers. MeS services include point-of-sale products, payment processing systems, 24x7x365 customer support, account sales and servicing, Web-based portfolio management reporting and eCommerce Storefronts.

About TriCipher, Inc.

TriCipher, Inc. provides Future Proof Risk Based Authentication. The TriCipher Armored Credential System™ (TACS) is the first authentication system that enables companies to deploy and manage multiple types of credentials from a single infrastructure.  Through this flexible "Authentication Ladder," TriCipher delivers future proof security - protecting your investment by enabling authentication strength to adjust in response to new threats and regulatory changes without the need to implement a new infrastructure.   In addition, TriCipher delivers risk based authentication - preventing online fraud through seamless integration with fraud detection systems, secondary authentication systems and the ability to enforce security software presence checks for malware protection. Founded in 2000, TriCipher is headquartered in San Mateo, California. The company was incubated as NSD Security before launching as a separate entity in 2005 with backing from Intel Capital and other marquee financial investors.

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TriCipher and Armored Credential System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of TriCipher, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. All other products and services mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies

For more information, contact:

Elizabeth Safran
Trainer Communications
tc@trainercomm.com
(408) 920-0585

Sally Sheward
TriCipher, Inc.
sally@tricipher.com
(650) 372-1312