VeriSign discounts PKI services to higher education

VeriSign will offer its Managed Public Key Infrastructure Services at a discount to public and private colleges and universities, the company announced today, noting that those institutions’ open networks are frequently the target of cyberattacks.

The discounted PKI security services will be available to 1,700 higher education institutions through Educause, a nonprofit technology-focused education association. The new offering, which will be part of Educause’s Identity Management Services Program, represents “a strong authentication solution at a greatly reduced price for higher education,” said George Schu, vice president for strategic development at VeriSign.

Cyberattacks that result in attackers remotely controlling university computers or surreptitiously seizing computer data are harmful to the institutions themselves and to others with whom universities collaborate, VeriSign officials said.

VerSign has had a longstanding relationship with higher education institutions because it manages the Internet’s dot-edu domain servers.