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Entrust
American digital security company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Entrust Corporation is an American digital security company headquartered in Shakopee, Minnesota. The company develops hardware and software for card and ID issuance, identity verification, authentication, certificate and key lifecycle management, and post-quantum cryptography. The business traces its roots to Datacard Corporation (founded in 1969) and Entrust Inc. (founded in 1994). Datacard acquired Entrust in 2013, and the combined company rebranded as Entrust in 2020.
Entrust operated a publicly trusted certificate authority until selling its public certificate business to Sectigo in January 2025. Notable acquisitions include nCipher (2019), HyTrust (2021), WorldReach (2021), and Onfido (2024). In July 2025, Entrust named Tony Ball as incoming chief executive officer (CEO) to succeed Todd Wilkinson, effective March 31, 2026.
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Datacard Corporation (1969-2013)
Datacard Corporation was founded in 1969 by Willis K. Drake, an early Minnesota computer-industry executive and co-founder of Control Data Corporation. Early operations focused on systems that enabled banks and retailers to produce plastic payment cards more quickly, later expanding to secure the personalization of ID and passports.[1]
Datacard was publicly traded before being acquired in 1987 by the family investment office of Germany’s Quandt family, which retains long-term ownership.[1]
In April 2000, Datacard acquired Platform Seven (P7), a smart‑card technology unit created by National Westminster Bank (NatWest).[2][3]
Datacard expanded into branch instant issuance with its October 2010 acquisition of Colorado-based Dynamic Card Solutions (DCS), the developer of CardWizard issuance software used across U.S. bank and credit-union locations.[4][5][6]
In December 2013, Datacard agreed to acquire Entrust Inc. from Thoma Bravo. The combined company later adopted the name Entrust Datacard (2014).[7][8][1]
Entrust Technologies Inc. (1994-2013)
Entrust’s public key infrastructure (PKI) software was first released in January 1994 within Northern Telecom’s (Nortel) “Secure Networks” group, which Nortel created to develop and sell PKI products.[9]
In December 1996, Nortel spun off its Secure Networks group as a separate company, Entrust Technologies Inc., to continue to develop and sell PKI software while retaining a majority stake in the new firm.[9][10]
In late 1999, InfoWorld reviewed version 5.0 of the Entrust PKI. The review compared management experience, cost, and features with competitive offerings, and noted that its certificates would work through 2003 via a recent co-signing partnership with Thawte.[11]
In April 2000, Entrust agreed to acquire enCommerce, an authentication and authorization software vendor, in a stock transaction reported at roughly $470–$586 million by contemporary business press.[12][13]
In 2004, Entrust acquired content‑scanning and compliance technology from Ottawa‑based AmikaNow!.[14][15]
Entrust purchased Orion Security Solutions, a PKI services provider, in June 2006 (reported price: $8 million).[16] The following month, it acquired Business Signatures Corporation, a California‑based fraud‑detection software firm, for $50 million in cash, as covered by industry press.[17][18]
In July 2007, Entrust made a PKI patent available royalty‑free for inclusion in Mozilla’s open‑source libraries via Sun Microsystems (CRL distribution points, U.S. Patent No. 5,699,431).[19]
Entrust agreed in April 2009 to be taken private by Thoma Bravo, and the deal closed in July 2009; the transaction value increased from $114 million at announcement to $124 million at completion, according to independent business press at the time.[20][21]
Entrust Datacard (2013-2019)
Datacard Group acquired Entrust in 2013; the combined company rebranded as Entrust Datacard in 2014.[7][1][8] Company officials later said the combined “Entrust Datacard” brand reflected recognition of both legacy businesses after Datacard’s 2013 purchase of Entrust and its path toward digital security.[1]
In February 2019, Entrust Datacard agreed to acquire Thales’s general‑purpose hardware security module (HSM) business, nCipher Security; the divestiture was required by the European Commission as a condition of approving Thales’s acquisition of Gemalto.[22][23][24][25]
Entrust Corporation (2020-present)
On September 14, 2020, the company rebranded from Entrust Datacard to Entrust and changed its legal entity name to Entrust Corporation.[1]
In January 2021, Entrust acquired HyTrust, Inc., a provider of encryption, key management, and cloud security posture software for virtualized and multi‑cloud environments.[26]
In April 2021, Entrust acquired Ottawa‑based WorldReach Software, which developed digital identity and travel‑document solutions for governments and border programs.[27][28]
On April 9, 2024, Entrust completed the acquisition of UK identity‑verification firm Onfido.[29][30]
On January 29, 2025, Entrust sold its public certificate authority business to Sectigo.[31]
In July 2025, Entrust announced that Tony Ball would succeed Todd Wilkinson as CEO, with the transition effective March 31, 2026.[32]
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Browser trust changes
On June 27, 2024, the Google Chrome Security Team and Chrome Root Program announced that Chrome would stop trusting newly issued TLS server certificates chaining to Entrust and its AffirmTrust roots. After an update to align enforcement with a major release, the change began in Chrome 131 on November 12, 2024, and applied to certificates whose earliest Signed Certificate Timestamp (SCT) was dated after November 11, 2024, 11:59:59 PM UTC; previously issued certificates were not affected by default trust changes.[33][34]
On July 31, 2024, Ben Wilson, Mozilla’s Root Store Manager, announced that Mozilla would set a distrust-after date of November 30, 2024, for TLS certificates chaining to Entrust and AffirmTrust roots, meaning Firefox would not trust certificates issued after that date; earlier issuance would remain unaffected.[35]
Following the sale to Sectigo in January 2025, Sectigo completed Entrust public certificate customer migration to its platform on September 29, 2025.[36] Entrust continues to offer private and managed PKI and software for certificate lifecycle management, including its PKI, managed PKI, and PKI as a Service products.[37][38][31]
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References
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