Organisations looking to ensure another layer of access security for their computer networks will benefit from a new program called CATool. CATool manages the generation of private certificates and allows the CA administrator to issue and recall certificates as required.

CATool runs on any Unix based operating system with any web browser and is designed to allow the task of administering certificates to be done easily, at low cost and in house. The program generates private server and client PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) certificates for a variety of applications using the proven integrity of OpenSSL. The software supports one or more administrators who check and grant certificate requests, and who can revoke or renew certificates at any time.

In addition, the software provides a self-serve interface so that end users requiring certificates can request and collect certificates online via the web. End users can download certificates in a variety of formats to suit many applications such as Apache, Radiator, Microsoft Outlook Express, AOL Instant Messenger and Web browsers like Netscape Communicator, Microsoft Internet Explorer and KMail.

“Security of communications and data is an ever increasing challenge” says OSC Managing Director, Mike McCauley. “CATool provides affordable, secure certificates and the web interface to implement them easily”.

Key Product Features:

  • A low-cost in-house certificate option

  • Easy integration into any Unix-like platform

  • Certificates for any application and platform

  • Quick set up

  • High security and authentication for access to web pages, 802.1X Wireless LANs and 802.1X Wired LANs

  • Certificates can be used in any PKI compliant application

  • Licensing options for small, medium or large organisations

  • High quality support from Open System Consultants

  • System Requirements: –

System requirements:
– Unix operating system (including Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, NetBSD, SunOS, AIX, IRIX, SCO Open Server, Digital, HP-UX, etc)
– Approx 10MB of disk space
– Perl 5.6.0 or later
– MySQL version 3 or later
– OpenSSL 0.9.7 or later
– Apache 2.0 or later (or other CGI compatible web server)
– Any web browser.

CATool is developed by Amaranth Networks, Inc. in Bolton, MA in the USA and is available through Open System Consultants (OSC), as the exclusive world-wide agent. See [link removed].

Established in 1991, OSC has achieved global recognition for quality products and rapid customer response. They offer a suite of source code products for Internet Service Providers (ISP), Access Service Providers (ASP), telecommunications and networking corporations.

OSC, a privately held company, has been successful in providing tools to meet the security access needs of wired, dialup and wireless computer networks including commercial products such as Radiator RADIUS Server, Nets Network Management System and DTS Problem Tracking software