VeriSign Japan K.K. (Akihiko Kawashima, President and CEO, located in Chuo-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "VeriSign Japan") and Hitachi Cable, Ltd. (Norio Sato, President and CEO, located in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "Hitachi Cable") validated that digital certificates (Note 2) can properly perform network authentication on Hitachi Cable's wireless IP phone "Wireless IP-5000." The companies used a digital certificate issued by "VeriSign Managed PKI Service (Note 1)," VeriSign Japan's outsourcing service for Certificate Authority setup. This is the first time that a digital certificate was used to test authentication on a wireless IP phone. It is hoped that more-secure wireless VoIP communications, as achieved with digital certificates, will further accelerate the adoption of VoIP.

Today, wireless LANs are coming into widespread use as a means of broadband access due to their convenience and declining product prices. However, using a wireless LAN without adequate security may expose users to serious risks such as unauthorized use through "spoofing," communications being intercepted or tapped, and information being tampered with or leaked. In April 26, 2004, The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications published a guideline entitled "For Safe Usage of Wireless LANs" that called for improved security measures.


Hitachi Cable sells the "Wireless IP-5000," a wireless IP phone terminal for use with wireless LANs. However, more and more customers require a higher security level than that provided by authentication through existing encryption technologies and standards such as WEP (Note 3) and IEEE802.1X (MD5) (Note 4). It has therefore become necessary to make wireless IP phones compliant with a more secure standard, IEEE 802.1X(EAP-TLS) (Note 5).


EAP-TLS is an authentication system that uses digital certificates, and has, up to now, been used on PCs with digital certificates installed. As a first step to applying EAP-TLS to wireless IP phones, VeriSign Japan and Hitachi Cable installed a digital certificate on Hitachi Cable's wireless IP phone terminal "Wireless IP-5000" to test how well it functioned and to validate its proper operation. The companies used VeriSign's digital certificate technology, which has an excellent track record for adoption in PC terminals. Although up to now it has been difficult to identify terminals when using wireless IP phones in carrier and similar services, the test results indicate that EAP-TLS allows for more accurate identification. This makes it possible to take effective measures against improper network usage such as "tapping" and "spoofing" by unauthorized wireless IP phones, thereby providing more secure VoIP communications. In addition, this authentication system conforms to the ministry's guidelines.

Although up to now digital certificates have been used mainly in PC terminals, the test results demonstrate that digital certificates can be used in a new area, wireless IP phones. VeriSign Japan hopes that its certificate technology will find widespread application and make significant advances in the future.

As for Hitachi Cable, EAP-TLS, which is considered a requirement for future wireless IP phones, was validated for use with its wireless IP phone terminal "Wireless IP-5000." Moreover, the company intends to support WPA (Note 5). Encouraged by these factors, Hitachi Cable will make every effort to promote the Wireless IP-5000 as a wireless IP phone terminal equipped with all the security measures necessary for use with wireless LANs.

(Note 1) VeriSign Managed PKI Service
An outsourcing service for setup of Certification Authority (CA) that issues digital certificates used in intranets, extranets, Web applications, etc. Since VeriSign sets up CA and issues certificates in place of customers (companies and organizations), they can install public key infrastructure (PKI) for authentication, data encryption, electronic signatures, and non-repudiation while reducing the workload for design, construction, and operation.
(Note 2) Digital Certificate
An electronic document for certifying that user ID information corresponds to the public key. It contains user ID information and its public key, the purpose and scope of key usage, and the name of the CA, and is attached with an electronic signature by the CA.
(Note 3) WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)
A method of encrypting data transmitted over wireless LAN. It was established as an option for the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN standard.
(Note 4) MD5 (Message Digest 5)
An authentication method that does not use digital certificates. It is easy to implement but somewhat vulnerable to data leakage by way of decryption.
(Note 5) EAP-TLS (Extensible Authentication Protocol-Transport Layer Security)
An authentication method using digital certificates. It consists of: two-way authentication through the exchange of certificates between LAN terminals and the authentication server; selection of encryption algorithm; and hierarchical key generation for sharing encryption keys safely. As passwords are not used, it is highly secure.
(Note 6) WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)
A data encryption method for use in wireless LANs, more secure than the conventional WEP standard. WPA was published by Wi-Fi Alliance, a wireless LAN standards-setting group, in October, 2002.

(Contacts)
VeriSign Japan K.K.:
Marketing Communications, Marketing Department
2-8-1 Yaesu, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0028 Japan
TEL: +81-3-3271-7014 FAX: +81-3-3271-7029

Hitachi Cable, Ltd.:
Corporate Communications Section, Administration Department, Human Resources & Administration Group
Otemachi Bldg., 1-6-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-8166 Japan
TEL: +81-3-5252-3261 FAX: +81-3-3214-5779