SoCalMLS Enters into Multi-year Agreement with Clareity Security

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Many MLS organizations are taking important steps to secure MLS content
RISMEDIA, Oct. 3, 2005 ? Southern California Multiple Listing Service (SoCalMLS), serving over 33,000 real estate professionals throughout Southern California, has entered into a multi-year agreement with Clareity Security, LLC for the SAFEMLS product and service suite. SoCalMLS has also contracted for the use of MLS Tracker providing additional security functionality and extensive tracking of all system use.

SoCalMLS is among many MLS organizations that are taking important steps to secure MLS content and protect it from misuse and unauthorized access. The SoCalMLS leadership directed an extensive year-long evaluation process prior to selecting Clareity Security as its solution provider. ?With increasing concerns about content security and privacy it was time for us to protect our assets from unauthorized use. Our content is the lifeblood of the MLS and its customers, and we needed a top of the line solution,? stated

Russ Bergeron, general manager of the SoCalMLS.

?Clareity has the experience and provided a complete real estate centric answer for protecting all access points to our systems.?

?We are extremely pleased to be entrusted to protect the authentication of one the foremost MLS organizations in the country,? said Gregg Larson, President of Clareity

Consulting and Clareity Security, LLC.

The SAFEMLS solution facilitates strong authentication by offering both hardware and software tokens, that issue one-time, single-use passwords. By requiring something the user has (a token) along with something they know (a user ID and PIN) it reduces the possibility of unauthorized access to the MLS system through shared or stolen passwords. Clareity Security, the leading security consulting firm to the real estate industry, developed SAFEMLS with Secure Computing (NASDAQ: SCUR), a global provider of security solutions. SAFEMLS provides real estate professionals with an easy-to-use system to safeguard sensitive MLS and real estate-related content and is the first security solution specifically designed to meet the unique needs of real estate companies and MLSs.

The SAFEMLS solution is integrated directly into SoCalMLS?s MarketLinx Tempo MLS system and will include custom integration solutions for approved third party vendors who access SoCalMLS content to ensure that all data access points are protected. ?The overriding factor in our decision-making process was convenience,? added Bergeron,

?Convenience for the user, and convenience for those who will administer the system.

With SAFEMLS we achieved both.? Clareity Security has worked with numerous third party vendors such as eNeighborhoods, Top Producer and Pocket Real Estate to complete SAFEMLS integration.

Controlling access to the MLS, as well as transaction management systems and broker systems, has become increasingly critical because it is no longer simply the listing information that is at risk. MLS systems now include contact management and CRM applications that store personal information about clients and prospects. Furthermore, new federal regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Gramm-Leach-Bliley, and recent state regulations, require that companies proactively take appropriate steps to protect confidential customer data. Regulation in other industries has caused MLS operators and large brokerage firms to recognize the need to improve security standards and best practices.

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