Crypto hits the mainstream

PC Magazine's web site has a prominent article reviewing four PC-based
crypto apps: they all seem to be oriented towards storage security not
communications security (to adopt Tim's taxonomy). The apps are from
Symantec, RSA, AT&T, and PGP; their "Editors' Choice" was Symantec's
program, followed closely by RSA's. They seem more concerned with speed and
user interface rather than the strength of the algorithms or their
implementations.

The article won't teach anyone who's read Applied Crypto anything new about
crypto, but it's neat to see that security is becoming a mainstream
concern. (It should have always been one.) There may very well be an
associated dead-tree version of the article as well, but I've lost touch
with the PC market.

The article is located at <http://www.pcmag.com/features/crypto/_open.htm>. 
 
--
Greg Broiles                | US crypto export control policy in a nutshell:
gbroiles@netbox.com         | 
http://www.io.com/~gbroiles | Export jobs, not crypto.
                            |

At 8:48 PM -0800 12/5/96, Greg Broiles wrote:
>PC Magazine's web site has a prominent article reviewing four PC-based
>crypto apps: they all seem to be oriented towards storage security not
>communications security (to adopt Tim's taxonomy). The apps are from
...

A good way of putting things. I wann't thinking in terms of a strict
tanonomy of "storage" vs. "communications,: but this is certainly so. The
government wants access to our _commuinications_,, while it is our
_storage_ that we as users are interested in protected.

(Not that I grant them access to "storage," but it's important to point out
that their claims about helping to protect ciitizen-units are bogus, too.)


--Tim


Just say "No" to "Big Brother Inside"
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."