PGP widens encryption software offerings

PGP last week announced the second version of its PGP Universal desktop encryption software, adding a way for customers to encrypt the entire contents of a computer, including the operating system.

PGP Universal 2.0 will have an option for what PGP is calling "whole-disk encryption," because corporate users fail to encrypt sensitive information that they should, the company says. The first version of PGP Universal was limited to file and folder encryption methods that require the user to select which ones to conceal via PGP's encryption-key technology. With PGP Universal 2.0, expected to ship mid-November, the company will compete more directly against security vendors PointSec and Utimaco.

PGP also is adding the same whole-disk encryption capability to its stand-alone encryption product PGP Desktop Professional 9.0 for individual users and small businesses.

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PGP last week announced the second version of its PGP Universal desktop encryption software, adding a way for customers to encrypt the entire contents of a computer, including the operating system.

PGP Universal 2.0 will have an option for what PGP is calling "whole-disk encryption," because corporate users fail to encrypt sensitive information that they should, the company says. The first version of PGP Universal was limited to file and folder encryption methods that require the user to select which ones to conceal via PGP's encryption-key technology. With PGP Universal 2.0, expected to ship mid-November, the company will compete more directly against security vendors PointSec and Utimaco.

PGP also is adding the same whole-disk encryption capability to its stand-alone encryption product PGP Desktop Professional 9.0 for individual users and small businesses.

PGP Desktop Professional lacks many management features available in PGP Universal 2.0, such as management of encryption keys via Lightweight Directory Access Protocol-based directories, including iPlanet, Microsoft Active Directory and Novell NDS. Another difference is PGP Universal 2.0 can make use of a corporate key to unlock and recover any data the user scrambled.

The new releases support certificate and message formats that include X.509, OpenPGP and S/MIME. Key types are either RSA or Diffie-Hellman Digital Signing Standard, with maximum key length of 4,096 bits. Allowed ciphers are AES, IDEA, CAST, Twofish and Triple-DES.

PGP this week is expected to announce support for the Research in Motion BlackBerry handheld messaging device.

This would provide centrally managed PGP e-mail encryption for the BlackBerry.

The software, costing $199, is targeted for shipment late next month. PGP Universal 2.0 costs $250 per seat for the corporation; PGP Desktop professional costs $150.

Read more about security in Network World's Security section.