RSA CONFERENCE 2000, San Jose, CA.— RSA Security Inc. (Nasdaq: RSAS), the most trusted name in e-security, today announced that Ralph Merkle, a noted mathematician and cryptographer; Ed Gillespie and Jack Quinn, Executive Director and Co-Chairman of Americans for Computer Privacy; and Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd. were named winners of the 2000 RSA Award. The prizes were awarded today to the three recipients by Jim Bidzos, vice chairman of RSA Security, at the opening session of the RSA Conference 2000 in San Jose, Calif.

Instituted in 1998, RSA Security's annual award recognizes individuals and organizations that have made significant, ongoing contributions to security issues and cryptography in the areas of mathematics, public policy and industry.

"The awards recognize the significant contributions these recipients have made to advance the field, constructively further the debate over policy and impact the marketplace," said Jim Bidzos, vice chairman of RSA Security. "Through their innovation, work and commitment, the RSA Award recipients for 2000 have made the Internet a safer place."

The RSA Award in Mathematics is presented to an individual or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of cryptographic sciences in the field of mathematics and its application.

The RSA Award in Public Policy is presented to the individual or organization that has contributed most significantly to the application of cryptographic technologies towards the advancement of personal privacy, civil justice and basic human rights.

The RSA Award in Industry goes to an individual or organization that has most facilitated the widespread use or application of advanced cryptographic technologies in the marketplace.

The award winners were selected by a committee with members from industry, the academic community and the public sector.

Ralph Merkle

Ralph Merkle co-invented public-key cryptography, winning the Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award for this achievement from the ACM in 1997 along with Leonard Adleman, Whitfield Diffie, Martin Hellman, Ronald Rivest and Adi Shamir. Merkle helped conceive the idea of a public-key cryptosystem in 1976, a major conceptual breakthrough without which today's electronic commerce would be impossible. Today, Merkle is a leading proponent of the developing field of molecular manufacturing, also known as nanotechnology. This past fall, Merkle joined this fledgling industry's first nanotechnology development company, Zyvex LLC, as their Principal Fellow, and he has published a number of important papers on nanotechnology. Merkle is executive editor of the journal Nanotechnology and an advisor to the Foresight Institute. In 1998, Merkle won the prestigious Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology for theory.

Ed Gillespie and Jack Quinn

As Executive Director and Co-Chairman of Americans for Computer Privacy, a coalition of over 40 associations, 100 companies and over 6,000 individual members, Ed Gillespie and Jack Quinn have provided the strategic backbone to the lobbying effort on Capitol Hill and in the Administration which helped lead to the most sweeping policy announcement to date providing relief for the export of encryption products. The two coalition leaders made a significant contribution to changing the public policy debate on encryption, educating members of Congress, the Administration and the American public about the importance of strong encryption. Their leadership directly affected public policy decisions that will provide for greater security as the United States makes the transition from the industrial to the information age.

Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point Software's pioneering efforts have helped transform network security for enterprises, taking security out of the back rooms and into the mainstream. Check Point has also proven that key ingredients for success in the security industry are creating best-of-breed products and establishing strategic partnerships with other companies. Its VPN-1/FireWall-1 is widely regarded as the leading product of its kind in the industry, and consistently receives industry awards. With over 35,000 installations, Check Point's VPN-1 family of virtual private network products has revolutionized the way organizations communicate, making VPN technology approachable for the first time. Check Point's initiative to promote its Open Platform for Security (OPSEC) demonstrates its relentless drive to establish security standards. Check Point has also developed many innovative security technologies, including its patented Stateful Inspection, a leading standard in network security technology, and its Secure Virtual Network (SVN) architecture for extending comprehensive security across the Internet, intranets and extranets.

About the RSA Conference 2000

The RSA Conference 2000, which opened in San Jose, Monday, January 17, with keynote sessions from noted industry leaders, cryptographers and government policy makers, will continue though Thursday, January 20 with more than 120 scheduled panels, conference sessions and classes, plus product and technology exhibits from more than 175 leading security, cryptography and electronic commerce vendors. RSA Security anticipates that this year's event will break attendance records with more than 8,000 decision-makers and influencers from a range of sectors, including consumer, education, financial, government, computer networking, telecommunications and the media. The four-day conference presents an opportunity to get up-to-the-minute information on the latest commercial, regulatory and technical issues affecting this dynamic field. The conference program is organized along multiple tracks designed for mathematicians, scientists and academics, developers, programmers, lawmakers, marketing executives, and others who need to stay abreast of the latest in technical, regulatory and market issues related to cryptography and security. For additional information about the conference, visit www.rsasecurity.com.

About RSA Security Inc.

RSA Security Inc., The Most Trusted Name in e-Security™ helps organizations build secure, trusted foundations for e-businesses through its RSA SecurID® two-factor authentication, RSA BSAFE® encryption and RSA Keon™ public key management systems. With nearly a half billion RSA BSAFE- enabled applications in use worldwide, more than six million RSA SecurID users and almost 20 years of industry experience, RSA Security has the proven leadership and innovative technology to address the changing security needs of e-business and bring trust to the new, online economy. RSA Security can be reached at www.rsasecurity.com.

NOTE: BSAFE and SecurID are registered trademarks, and Keon, RSA and The Most Trusted Name in e-Security are trademarks of RSA Security Inc. All other products and services mentioned are trademarks of their respective companies.