PGP poised for major comeback

PGP encryption products will be back on the market by the end of the year, with a raft of new releases in the pipeline.

PGP 8.0 will be out by the end of December and will include a freeware version for non-commercial use, a single user personal package and an enterprise version. A public beta of the new software, which has had over 300,000 downloads in the last fortnight, is available here.

XP and Mac OSX support will be built in, and a Lotus Notes module is also being launched. A Linux version will have to wait until a non-competition clause with Network Associates expires in 18 months' time.

"We're aiming for transparent encryption for the user and easy deployment over a network within the next nine months," said PGP Corporation president Phillip Dunkelberger in an interview with vnunet.com.

"People need to get their jobs done and need to be using PGP seamlessly. Privacy is one of the more hotly debated areas of technology today, and email is the number one application so we're definitely addressing a need."

The encryption software became an unofficial standard before being mothballed by Network Associates in March.

The rights have been bought out by former employees funded by venture capitalists. Most of the original technical team are involved, including PGP creator Phil Zimmermann and security expert Bruce Schneier.

Neil Barrett, technical director at security specialists Information Risk Management, said: "It's certainly feasible to make encryption seamless.

"PGP's strength was a commitment to producing the technological best. Unfortunately the old version was pretty clumsy and difficult to set up properly without a PhD in computer science.

"If they've cracked that problem and made it more accessible they stand an excellent chance of success."

The source code will be made available for public viewing shortly. This is designed to open the software up and identify any potential flaws.

Last year two Czech students claimed to have found a flaw in the software, although this was never proved.

Stephan Somogyi, head of products for PGP, said: "If there is a way to break PGP we want to know about it. We're opening the code to peer review and if people can break it it's no use to us.

"Corporates are applauding this. They know this technology is different from regular software. If there's a problem it has to be solved immediately."

Although many of PGP's previous channel partners have already signed up with the new corporation, the company is looking to recruit more in the UK.

It has signed up Intellect Services as a main distributor and more partners will be added as they apply.