Milwaukee PKWares new server-based file compression software has come out of beta testing for its public release, touting the ability to create encrypted self-extracting files in the companys Zip format and run on several platforms.
Recipients of the files can now open them without needing to install PKWare software themselves. Instead, a password or digital key will unlock the data, which is contained in an executable file. Thats the biggest difference in the new version for Johnson Financial Group, one of the beta testers.
We dont have to worry about supporting our customers because we told them to install something, said Kevin Bong, the groups associate vice president of networks and security.
The software has also been extended to multiple platforms, said Steve Crawford, PKWares chief marketing officer. The new version will be launched for Linux, Unix and Windows, expanding on its Windows-only roots.
- Read about PKWare's launch of SecureZip
Open standards and platforms are nothing new to the Wisconsin company, though. When Phil Katz developed the Zip encryption format in 1989, he published it on Internet bulliten boards and maintained it as an open standard, releasing the PKZip softare itself as shareware. This openness may have directly led to the file formats wide adoption, which PKWare sees as a base to build on.
Zip is so widely deployed across all these different end-users systems that we think its an ideal platform to start distributing security features, Crawford said.
Thats what the company has started doing with its SecureZip line of enterprise products. The company as a whole is now focused mostly on the enterprise and on server-based products, though it has a few home-use Zip products available.
PKWares business model is to sell packaged server software, said Jim Peterson, the companys chief technology officer. It does not offer hosted services or formal consulting, at least not now. As it moves further beyond pure storage into securty, Peterson said, the company may look at becoming a consulting firm.
Home users may be more familiar with competitor WinZip, which took advantage of the Zip formats open nature to build its own product and has taken much of the desktop market. Nevertheless, Crawford called the widespread Zip format viral marketing for PKWare.
SecureZip uses RSAs BSafe algorithms to encrypt data, which is accessible using either a password or a digital certificate or signature. While Crawford said that lends the company credibility in IT circles, he said its not always hard to persuade people to use encryption when its available in a product they already use commonly.
Technology already exists, of course, to transmit encrypted data over a network. Peterson cited as an advantage of file-based securty, though, that it is not dependent on the connection.
Were all about protecting the data itself, Peterson said. SecureZip is not something that would ... protect the perimeter of the information. Were all about ensuring that the data, whether its sitting in storage or being transmitted across the Internet ... that the integrity of that information remains solid.
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Jason Stitt is WTN's associate editor and can be reached at jason@wistechnology.com.
