-- forwarded message -- Path: wmich-news!gumby!newspump.wustl.edu!rice!bcm.tmc.edu!news.msfc.nasa.gov!newsfeed.internetmci.com!204.238.120.130!jump.net!grunt.dejanews.com!not-for-mail Date: Fri, 26 Sep 1997 13:51:52 -0600 From: nospam@synernet.com Subject: OPEN-PGP" APPROVED FOR STANDARDS TRACK BY IETF Newsgroups: alt.security.pgp,comp.security.pgp.discuss,alt.security,talk.politics.crypto,alt.privacy,alt.privacy.anon-server Message-ID: <875299757.20568@dejanews.com> Reply-To: nospam@synernet.com Organization: Deja News USENET Posting Service X-Article-Creation-Date: Fri Sep 26 18:49:17 1997 GMT X-Originating-IP-Addr: 166.82.194.182 (estone.vnet.net) X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/3.0 (Win95; U) X-Authenticated-Sender: nospam@synernet.com Lines: 99 Xref: wmich-news comp.security.pgp.discuss:5111 "OPEN-PGP" APPROVED FOR STANDARDS TRACK BY INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE Working Group formed to pave worldwide protocol for secure communication SAN MATEO, Calif. (Sept. 25, 1997) -- In a milestone decision for the standardization of secure electronic communications worldwide, the Internet Engineering Steering Group today unanimously approved the formation of an official IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) Working Group to develop a secure email specification called "Open-PGP." The proposed Open-PGP standard will build on Pretty Good Privacy, Inc.'s (PGP) encryption technology, which already is used by millions of individuals around the globe. To facilitate an international standard and promote growth of the Internet, as well as related industries worldwide, PGP released change-control of its technology to the Internet Society (ISOC), and the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). "As the IETF Security Area Director, I'm very pleased that PGP Inc. yielded change control to the standards body," said Dr. Jeff Schiller, manager of Computer Services at MIT. "MIT has been a proponent of PGP from the very start -- in 1991, MIT distributed the first non-commercial version of PGP for free, and since then, has been hosting the public key (certificate) server for worldwide access," he said. Phil Dunkelberger, president of PGP, said, "This development is in keeping with PGP's commitment to protecting security of business and personal communications, and our founding principal of the universal right to privacy. We've never been interested in industry domination at the expense of the users." According to Charles Breed, director of security technology, PGP, and co-chair of the IETF Working Group, "Despite the industry's reputation for aggressive competition, there was unilateral support when Open-PGP was first proposed at the Munich IETF meeting a month ago. More than 150 people representing US companies were present, as well as businesses from Singapore, Japan, the UK and Europe." "Open-PGP" will tackle a major obstacle to the growth of the Internet, plagued at present by policy and technical incompatibilities from country to country. The proposed standard is an unencumbered, non-proprietary specification that will guarantee interoperability of encrypted and digitally signed messages, and provide strong encryption and non-repudiation with digital signatures. Open-PGP will be developed by a consortium of experts, using technology that has provided privacy to Internet email and electronic files since 1991 in products from more than 80 manufacturers worldwide. The Open-PGP specification will be available for peer and public review as it develops. Alternative proposals that have failed in the past, such as PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail), MOSS (MIME object Security Systems) and most recently, S/MIME (Secure MIME from RSA), depended on complex infrastructures or were encumbered by legal patents, royalties, and export restrictions forcing the use of weak encryption practices. "I expect the Open-PGP specification will progress quickly, because it's well understood, simple and our mailing list on the topic suggests it has a great deal of vendor support already. It has all the elements for a comprehensive solution: trust models, certificate infrastructure, encoding rules, securing MIME and the cryptographic algorithms," said Paul Hoffman, director of the Internet Mail Consortium (IMC), a non-profit organization that promotes the growth of Internet protocols. "Open-PGP applications will be easy for corporations and individuals to use, and will be based on strong, freely available, well-known cryptographic techniques that are the foundation of PGP's technology," said John Noerenberg, senior development manager at Qualcomm's Eudora Division. "Eudora is the top-selling Internet mail application and our users are very pleased with the PGP-based security component." For more information about Open-PGP or subscribe to the IMC mail list, visit the IMC worldwide web site at http://www.ietf-open-pgp.imc.org. About PGP San Mateo-based, Pretty Good Privacy, Inc. (PGP), is the pioneer and worldwide de facto standard for business security and personal privacy, with an estimated four million users of its encryption products, including more than half of the Fortune 100 companies. PGP is committed to providing the most advanced security products for the digital age, safeguarding the communication and storage of information. For more information, visit our website at http://www.pgp.com. Contact: Robin Rootenberg/Monika Madrid Access Communications 1-800-393-7737 ext. 282/227 rrootenberg@accesspr.com/mmadrid@accesspr.com" -- ---------------------------- Ed Stone estone@synernet-robin.com remove "-birdname" spam avoider ---------------------------- -------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====----------------------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet -- end of forwarded message --