Landbouwkrediet/ Crédit Agricole (Belgium) deploys DIGIPASS and VACMAN Controller to secure online access to its banking application

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Illinois and ZURICH, Switzerland – February 25, 2010 – VASCO Data Security International, Inc. (Nasdaq: VDSI; www.vasco.com), a leading software security company specializing in strong authentication products, announces today that Landbouwkrediet/ Crédit Agricole (www.landbouwkrediet.be) implements DIGIPASS in combination with VACMAN Controller to secure its online banking application.

Landbouwkrediet/ Crédit Agricole is a retail bank offering full banking services to professionals, corporate and retail customers and is a leading loan credit provider to the agricultural sector. In order to secure its online banking application, Landbouwkrediet/ Crédit Agricole wanted to deploy a strong two-factor authentication solution, however without compromising user-friendliness.

After evaluating different solutions from different providers, the company chose VASCO’s DIGIPASS 250 to secure access for its 55,000 users to the application 'Crelan-online.be'.
With 'Crelan-online.be', customers can directly access their accounts at Landbouwkrediet/ Crédit Agricole from any PC with an internet browser. The application allows customers to consult their investment portfolio and current and savings accounts, make money transactions and pay bills online, anywhere at any time.

To access 'Crelan-online.be', the bank’s end-users must possess a DIGIPASS authenticator. Customers enter their user identification, together with the serial number of the DIGIPASS authenticator and a one-time password generated by DIGIPASS. DIGIPASS is not only used to log on to the application, but is also employed in the process of transaction signing, adding an extra security layer.

“We chose VASCO because the company’s solution fit all of our requirements”, Rik Duyck, Managing Director at Landbouwkrediet/ Crédit Agricole. “Security and user-friendliness were our top priorities. The transaction signing function of DIGIPASS adds an extra security layer. VASCO’s DIGIPASS solution was the ‘best buy’ as its use is self-explanatory and the company itself has a proven track record in the financial world. Furthermore, integration with our back-end infrastructure and hardware security module (HSM) went smoothly thanks to the HSM compliancy and the excellent documentation of the VACMAN Controller API.”

The Landbouwkrediet/ Crédit Agricole Group is composed of four entities that are fully complementary: Landbouwkrediet/Crédit Agricole bank and the three subsidiaries: Landbouwkrediet/Crédit Agricole Insurance, the niche bank Europabank and the online bank Keytrade Bank.
The Group can count on the strong commitment of two shareholders, the Belgian cooperatives Lanbokas and Agricaisse (50%) and the French Crédit Agricole (50%), which support Landbouwkrediet/ Crédit Agricole in the realization of its ambitions.
Landbouwkrediet/ Crédit Agricole Group employs 1,800 people, has 300 branch agencies, 130,000 cooperators and 550,000 customers.

VASCO is a leading supplier of strong authentication and e-signature solutions and services specializing in Internet Security applications and transactions. VASCO has positioned itself as global software company for Internet Security serving a customer base of almost 9,500 companies in more than 100 countries, including approximately 1,400 international financial institutions. VASCO’s prime markets are the financial sector, enterprise security, e-commerce and e-government.

Forward Looking Statements:
Statements made in this news release that relate to future plans, events or performances are forward-looking statements. Any statement containing words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “intend,” “mean,” and similar words, is forward-looking, and these statements involve risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations. Consequently, actual results could differ materially from the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements.

Reference is made to VASCO's public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for further information regarding VASCO and its operations.

This document may contain trademarks of VASCO Data Security International, Inc. and its subsidiaries, including VASCO, the VASCO “V” design, DIGIPASS, VACMAN, aXsGUARD and IDENTIKEY.

For more information contact:
Jochem Binst, +32 2 609 97 00, [email protected]