FTP Software Licenses Pretty Good Privacy 07/23/96

[reagle@rpcp.mit.edu (Joseph M. Reagle Jr.)]

HAMBURG, GERMANY, 1996 JUL 23 (NB) -- By Sylvia Dennis. FTP Software,  
the Internet/connectivity software company, has licensed Pretty Good 
Privacy's encryption technology of the same name (PGP). Plans now call 
for FTP to integrate PGP within its range of TCP/IP (Transmission 
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) software. 

Under the terms of the agreement, PGP has licensed its encryption  
software to FTP for use in OnNet32 2.0 for Windows 95 and Windows NT, 
both versions of which will ship in the third quarter of this year on 
both sides of the Atlantic. 

Tom Steding, PGP's chief executive officer, said that a critical piece  
of the company's business strategy is to proliferate the "seamless 
integration of encryption technology" within e-mail applications 
programs. 

"We see this partnership as a powerful combination of two leaders who,  
together, will use their considerable market weight and technical 
expertise to promote and enhance the PGP towards becoming a 
universally accepted industry standard," he said. 

According to Rebecca Buisan, product marketing manager with FTP, the  
company has made several enhancements to OnNet32 to integrate PGP into 
its basic functions. There is now a two icon system which allows users 
to access a tool bar, designating options to encrypt or decrypt a 
message, and make a digital signature. Mail messages can also be left 
on a server or computer in an encrypted format, to be decrypted and 
read at will. 

"Experience has proven that cryptography only works if implemented  
effectively, so that it is simple for the user," she explained. 

According to Buisan, FTP has conducted extensive human factors testing  
to fine-tune PGP's cryptographic software into a "flexible and 
intuitive application that people will be encouraged to use." 

According to FTP, its implementation of the PGP encryption software  
is interoperable with current freeware versions available for free 
download from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) or one 
of the many other FTP (File Transfer Protocol) sites that distribute 
the package. The MIT site is at http://web.mit.edu/pgp . 

PGP was originally developed in 1991 by Phil Zimmerman. The package  
allowed PC users, for the first time, to send information in a secure 
encrypted format without fear of intervention. 

FTP's Web site is at http://www.ftp.com .  

(19960722/Press & Reader Contact: Manuela Dorken, FTP Software,  
+49-89-614130, Internet e-mail manuela@ftp.com; PGP, 415-631-1747, 
Internet e-mail info@viacrypt.com)