On-line Banking: TIS Ships Strong Encryption Worldwide

Trusted Information Systems Inc. said it has begun shipping a strong data encryption program worldwide without restrictions.

The company's CryptAll 1.0 product, part of the RecoverKey line, enables anyone to use encryption with key lengths as long as 128 bits, which is extraordinarily difficult if not impossible to crack.

Export controls historically prevented marketing of such systems except in the financial industry and for domestic corporations' use, but Trust Information Systems incorporates it in a key recovery system that is compatible with federal rules.

Key recovery, controversial in the context of allowing law enforcement agencies to decrypt private messages, is desired by many corporate users.

"Encryption is a prerequisite for protecting sensitive information on the Internet, but there are risks if your data is locked and you lose the key," said TIS president and chief executive officer Stephen T. Walker. "CryptAll minimizes those risks by creating a spare key that the user controls in case of emergency."

CryptAll was used by Baltimore Technologies of Dublin for the key recovery version of its MailSecure system.

Separately, TIS announced a licensing agreement with Philips Crypto of the Netherlands. The Philips unit will operate Key Recovery Centers, offering an international fee-based encryption recovery service.

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