Secureware Inc

With a few taps of a computer keyboard at a New York press conference this morning, a small Kentucky savings and loan will claim bragging rights as the first bank to conduct true on-line banking on the Internet. The move by Security First Network Bank comes as much bigger banks--computer savvy Wells Fargo & Co., for example--believe some security problems remain to be solved before fund transfers can be safely conducted over the Internet.

Cold War technology is finding a hot new market in protecting information on the Internet and corporate computer networks. Harris Computer Systems Corp., SecureWare Inc. and others are selling corporations on high-tech gear that once foiled computer break-ins at the U.S. Defense Department. Those same safeguards appeal to companies that use linked computers known as "intranets" to transfer sensitive data.