age

Sometimes, I can feel my age. Not my mental age, which is 22, but the age counted in winters my body have experienced. And yesterday, another number where added. As a good friend put it: "I read it somewhere that you are one day older than yesterday..."

Back in 1994 (or perhaps it was in 1995 - my seniority seems to be directly connected to Alzheimer) I needed a tool for secure storing of data on the run.

One in my network spoke nice words about PGP - Pretty Good Privacy. I decided that since it was one of the few solutions available, and they had a solution for my Mac (yes, I admit I have a dark history...), the decision where easy to make. I started to use the PGP Disk - a tool to securely encrypt content on a disk.

Due to the things my company dealt with back then, we also needed an encryption solution for e-mail and file transfer. PGP came to a rescue here as well. Their PGP suit even included a plugin for Eudora (any one else remember Eudora???) and I implemented the full use of automatic encryption and signing of messages between our HQ in Norway, the sales office in France and our development unit in Pakistan. We even thought a few of our customers to use these tools.

Long story short - I have been a happy user of PGP for many years, and I still use it occasionally. And PGP has gone a long, long way from the early days where it where mostly a geeks tool and something only the most paranoid 'be using.

In 2009, the basic concept is the same - secure data on devices and on the go. And as in the early days, they are still innovative and delivers tools and solutions that IMO far exceeds those of their competitors.

Today, there are two critical factors of any security solutions. First their readiness for mobility (devices, users on the move, data on the move), and second manageability. As for PGP, they have not slept in the class. Focusing on manageability in their PGP Universal Server, they are able to deploy encryption and enforce policies on a wide range of devices - ranging from servers to mobile devices, including BlackBerry devices.

Even though the products has evolved and functionality has been added over the years, the PGP suit of products are still easy to use. The administrator can even deploy the tools without user interaction, a vital option in some organizations.

Another feature that is critical is transparency for the user. The PGP Universal Gateway Email enforces policies automatically, without any user interaction. Imagine having to teach 1 000 users to encrypt all e-mails they send out that contain business critical information. Then you must enforce them to actually remember to encrypt the right emails. After 6 months, how many of the 1 000 users to you think still are encrypting the emails?

Imagine another scenario - you are working on the annual report, it is due in two days, and you send the preliminary report to a collegue. Or so you think, just typing Anne and hit enter in the To: field. You think it will go to Anne Hansen, while in fact this time Anne Berrington gets it. And Ms. Berrington is a journalist in the national business paper.

With tools like the PGP Universal Gateway Email, the e-mail would have been automatically encrypted, and Ms. Berrington would need special credentials to open it. Since she is not in the right group, she would not get access to the report. No harm done, except the blushing on your face when she calls and tells you about the error.

Since it's start in 1991, PGP has been the spearhead of encryption - both on hard-drives and on the move. The ease of use combined with strong encryption and high level of innovation, makes the PGP tools suitable for any organization - from the one-man company to multinational corporations. So when you are in need of file encryption software, look no further!