S A C A

The South African Certification Agency (Pty) Ltd. (SACA) is a trusted Certification Authority for digital authentication, issuance and management of digital ID's for Electronic Commerce.

SACA was established to meet the growing demand for digital authentication solutions in the electronic commerce industry. SACA is part of the Electronic Commerce Division of PQ Africa, the leading Information Technology group of companies in South Africa. SACA has exclusive rights to the products and services of VeriSign, Inc., the world leader in digital authentication for electronic commerce applications. 

SACA's mission is to establish an open industry standard for digital authentication that will enable individuals and corporate business in Southern Africa to conduct secure, trusted electronic communications and transactions with enterprises worldwide.

SACA adds value by authorising, issuing and managing digitally signed certificates, also called Digital ID'sSM, to authenticate and verify parties in an electronic transaction. They provide the latest, most advanced and high quality digital authentication products through their partnerships with world leading technology corporations, notably Microsoft; MasterCard; Netscape; VeriSign; Visa and others.

All of ECnet's merchants have digital ID's authenticating their Web sites.

V e r i S i g n

VeriSign is the leading provider of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and digital certificate solutions used by enterprises, Web sites, and consumers to conduct secure communications and transactions over the Internet and private networks.

VeriSign Digital Certificates bind an identity to a pair of electronic keys that can be used to encrypt and sign digital information. A VeriSign Digital Certificate makes it possible to verify someone's claim that they have the right to use a given key, helping to prevent people from using phoney keys to impersonate other users. Used in conjunction with encryption, VeriSign Digital Certificates provide a more complete security solution, assuring the identity of all parties involved in a transaction.

ECnet uses VeriSign Digital Certificates to activate Secure Sockets Layers (SSL) to ensure that all information sent to ECnet, through the order form is encrypted. This method of encryption is an industry standard in secure, online transactions. It encrypts information and makes it impossible for anyone to read while in transit.