* Wave Systems helps bring Trusted Computing to Windows
At the recent RSA Conference I came across a few companies I hadn’t noticed before, some of which might be interesting for you to take a look at. One example is Wave Systems.
I sat down with Wave’s President and CEO, Steve Sprague who was ably assisted by Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing Brian Berger, as well as John Callahan, the Vice President of Corporate Communication. “Assisted” is perhaps too strong a word. Berger and Callahan were probably there to make sure I didn’t bolt and run while Sprague gave me the full blast of proselytization about Trusted Computing and the Trusted Computing environment that Wave’s Embassy Trust Suite (ETS) provides. Not that Sprague was trying to brainwash me or anything, but he really does have strong feelings about Trusted Computing and about how best to implement it.
If you’re not familiar with the Trusted Computing initiative (which relies on hardware-based security), visit the Web site of the industry group Trusted Computing Group (https://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/home) for all the details.
You’ll also want to visit Wave’s Web site (http://www.wave.com) to learn more about the company, but to whet your appetite here’s a selection of the features I saw in ETS:
* Security Center – establishes security policy management to strengthen authentication to Microsoft Windows and other secure applications with multifactor authentication capabilities, including fingerprint biometrics.
* Document Manager Vault – protects files and folders in multiple, networked, sharable secure drives that are compatible with Microsoft Windows Explorer.
* Private Information Manager – stores and automates user names, passwords and personal information in a secure environment including personal notes and multiple identities per login for the same user.
* SmartSignature – digital signatures for electronic contracts in a secure environment.
* Key Transfer Manager – back-up protection of the hardware encryption keys used for critical PC data and integrated with the ETS applications for enterprise needs.
* Secure E-mail – Trusted Platform Module (TPM)-based certificates for e-mail encryption using Microsoft Outlook.
* Secure EFS – configures Trusted Platform Module-based certificates in Microsoft’s Encrypting File System (EFS) file and folder encryption.
* Secure Wireless Authentication – TPM-based certificates for strong authentication to an 802.1x-compatible wireless access point.
And that’s just a small sampling of what ETS can do for you. If you’re concerned about security – and who isn’t these days – you owe it to yourself and your organization to at least take a look at hardware-based security as embodied by the Trusted Computing Group and Wave Systems’ Embassy Trust Suite.
