[comp.dcom.telecom]: AT&T finally adds RSA

[paul@poboy.b17c.ingr.com (Paul Robichaux)]

Note that AT&T is selling this puppy for $360 _per copy._ I bet some
motivated developer could get the appropriate patent licenses and
undercut them significantly.

-Paul


FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES:
David Arneke, AT&T Secure Communications Systems
910 279-7680 (office)
910 273-5687 (home)
!darneke (ATTMAIL) or david.arneke@att.com (Internet)

AT&T ADDS RSA SECURITY TECHNOLOGY TO SECRETAGENT (TM) SOFTWARE

        GREENSBORO, North Carolina -- AT&T has added RSA security
technology to its SecretAgent software in an upgrade that makes the
program more versatile, easier to use and faster.

        Other major new capabilities in AT&T SecretAgent Version 3.0
include:

        -- User-transparent support of RSA and DSA public keys.  Users
can generate RSA keys or DSA keys and communicate signed and encrypted
messages with other SecretAgent 3.0 users regardless of their choice
of public key algorithms.

        -- Cross-platform compatibility among MS-DOS, Windows,
Macintosh and various UNIX operating systems.  Information secured on
one operating system can be processed transparently on any of the
others.

        -- Mail-enabled operation through the widely supported
Vendor-Independent Messaging (VIM) interface.

        -- Significantly faster implementation of DES encryption and
DSA signing and validation.

        Version 3.0 adds the RSA cryptosystem for digital signatures
and key management to SecretAgent's capabilities, which already
included DES encryption, the NIST Digital Sig- nature Algorithm (DSA)
and the federal Secure Hash Standard (SHS) for data integrity.

        For encryption and DSA signatures, a variant of the
Diffie-Hellman protocol is used for key exchange.

        "AT&T SecretAgent 3.0 Software gives users a more powerful
array of capabilities in an extremely fast and efficient way," said
William A. Franklin, software security products manager, AT&T Secure
Communications Systems.

        With its unique combination of standards, SecretAgent 3.0
software provides solutions to the security requirements of a wide
variety of business and government users.

        "Some customers require only one set of capabilities --
government users, for example, are required to use federal standards
only," Franklin said.

        "Some businesses prefer RSA technology, but others need RSA
for electronic data interchange with other commercial businesses and
government standards for dealing with the government."

        Users can select either RSA, SHS and DES or DSA, SHS, DES and
Diffie-Hellman for signing and encrypting.  On reception, the program
detects which security algorithms have been used so the recipient of a
message doesn't have to be concerned about which technology the sender
used.

        Mail-enabled operation also makes security user-friendly.
Messages can be created, signed, encrypted and mailed all without
leaving SecretAgent 3.0 software.  Documents also can be signed,
encrypted and transmitted as mail attachments.

        DES encryption is 50 percent faster than in the original
version of AT&T SecretAgent Software.

        Digital signature speed is also improved.  DSA signing
and validation are performed in approximately 150 milliseconds each 
on a 486/33M Hz personal computer.

        AT&T SecretAgent Software was developed for AT&T by
Information Security Corporation of Deerfield, Illinois.

        The program operates independently of word processing
programs, enabling it to safeguard such diverse data as text files,
spreadsheets and databases.

        SecretAgent 3.0 software encrypts and decrypts files for
transmissions or storage, even files stored on a shared network hard
disk.

        Single-copy suggested retail price is $329.95 for the DOS and
Windows versions, $359.95 for the Mac version and $399.95 for the UNIX
version.  Volume discounts and site/enterprise licensing are
available.

        Recommended PC configuration includes 640 KB RAM (256 KB
required) and hard disk.

        The Windows version of SecretAgent 3.0 software will be
available March 15.  The DOS version will follow on April 1, the
SPARCstation UNIX version on April 15 and the Mac version on May 1.

        A software upgrade to allow the program to accept the federal
government's TESSERA PCMCIA card and DATAKEY Sig- naSURE smart card
will be available April 1.  A triple-DES software capability also will
be available April 1.

        To order or to get more information, customers can call the
AT&T Secure Communications Customer Service Center, 1 800 203-5563.

                          ######

Product names are trademarks of their respective companies.

-- 
Paul Robichaux, KD4JZG     | "Let he who is without sin cast the first 
perobich@ingr.com          |  pointer." - Owen Harnett
Intergraph Federal Systems | Be a cryptography user- ask me how.
	       Of course I don't speak for Intergraph.