Pilot Designed to Test Electronic Methods for Improving Efficiency
Of SSA's Annual Wage Report Filing Process
SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Signature Trust Co.
(DST), an affiliate of Zions Bancorporation (Nasdaq: ZION), has been selected
by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to help design and implement a
pilot to test electronic methods for employers to file annual W2 and W3 forms
with the SSA. This Internet pilot for the Annual Wage Report (AWR) system
will use DST-issued digital certificates to secure and authenticate the
electronic filing transactions.
The AWR pilot, which will operate from January 31, 2000, through
March 31, 2000, will test two electronic methods for employers to file W-2 and
W-3 forms -- secure e-mail and Web-based file transfer. The objective of the
pilot is to test user acceptance of Internet-based electronic filing, as well
as its ease of use. Up to 100 employers nationwide will participate.
In the pilot, some participants will deliver their wage reports to the SSA
via secure e-mail. The employer will digitally "sign" the message using an
SSA pilot certificate. (As a driver's license or passport identifies an
individual in a face-to-face transaction, a digital certificate identifies a
person or business in an electronic transaction.) Additionally, the employer
will encrypt the message with a key from the SSA's digital certificate.
Signing the message will assure the SSA of the authenticity of the message it
receives, while the validated certificate will verify the sender's identity.
Encrypting the message will ensure that only the private key held by the SSA
can decrypt the message received.
Other pilot participants will use a secure Web site to upload wage reports
to the SSA over the Internet. When accessing the secure Web site, the
participant will be queried for an SSA pilot certificate to provide positive
identity prior to being granted access to the secure upload page. Once the
server has authenticated the visitor's identity by verifying the certificate,
the visitor will upload his or her wage report via a link secured by a DST
server certificate.
In addition to designing the system for implementing the AWR pilot, DST
will issue an SSA pilot certificate to each pilot participant, and will also
provide management services to support the implementation of the pilot.
"More than five million employers currently file W-2 and W-3 forms
manually by either printing hard copy of filings or copying them to a diskette
and mailing them to us," said Norm Goldstein, senior financial executive for
SSA. "This pilot represents a giant step toward our goal of improving the
efficiency and convenience of our annual wage report system through a
paperless filing process."
"Digital certificates are increasingly being recognized as a critical
element of establishing online security and authentication," said Scott Lowry,
president and chief executive officer of DST. "We are excited to be working
with the SSA on this important pilot that will help the agency achieve its
goal of a paperless filing process, which translates into more conveniences
for the nation's employers and cost savings for America's taxpayers."
Much of the impetus behind the SSA's electronic wage reporting pilot flows
from the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) and the Access America
initiative championed by the National Performance Review. Signed into law in
October 1998, the purpose of the GPEA is to promote the use of electronic
communication and commerce in transactions between the public and the federal
government. Under the GPEA, all government agencies must have all of their
forms available in electronic format, and must be able to accept transmission
of those forms electronically by 2003. The primary goal of Access America is
to leverage information technology to deliver comprehensive government
services to Americans and to dramatically increase government productivity.
Recently, the U.S. General Services Administration selected DST as the
first awardee of an Access Certificates for Electronic Services (ACES)
contract. Under terms of this contract DST is able to issue digital
certificates to the American public on behalf of federal government agencies.
A person who has been issued an ACES certificate will be able to use that
certificate with any ACES-enabled application of all participating government
agencies, thus eliminating the need to have a different certificate for
working with each agency. From the AWR pilot, the SSA hopes to better
understand how it might use ACES certificates for SSA transactions.
In addition, DST has also been accredited by the U.S. Department of
Defense (DoD) to issue digital certificates to DoD trading partners under the
DoD's Interim External Certificate Authority (IECA) program. DST also
provides CA services to the financial services industry through ABAecom, a
subsidiary of the American Bankers Association; to Entrust Worldwide(TM), an
international, multi-industry secure network community; and to the electric
utility industry's largest online trading community, OASIS.
About Digital Signature Trust
Digital Signature Trust Co. is a subsidiary of Zions First National Bank
and is the first licensed Certification Authority in the U.S. and the first
selected GSA ACES contract awardee. DST helps government and industry clients
benefit from savings and service opportunities offered by the Internet through
providing trusted, public key infrastructure (PKI)-based digital certificate
services and secure electronic commerce solutions. DST also offers
certification authority and repository services, business process
re-engineering, and PKI consulting. With a focus on implementing PKIs that
meet individual client needs, DST offers a variety of PKI solutions backed by
leading technology providers. DST creates the trust that allows organizations
to fully benefit from electronic commerce. For more information, call DST at
1-888-294-7831 or visit http://www.digsigtrust.com . Zions First National
Bank is the largest subsidiary of Zions Bancorporation.
SOURCE Digital Signature Trust Co.
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.digsigtrust.com
Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/988950.html or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 988950
CONTACT:
Wendy Steinle of Digital Signature Trust,
801-594-8027, or wendy.steinle@digsigtrust.com
|
