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SCMP Reporter

Network Associates wants to establish its Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) technology - now used for e-mail encryption - as an authentication standard for electronic commerce.

 Network Associates has formed a partnership with Internet authentication firm Verisign to promote PGP as an authentication standard.

 However, Gartner Group researcher Dean Lombardo has questioned the compatibility of the two standards.

 Check Point Software regional sales manager Anthony Lim believed there would be no single standard for the next 10 years or so. He believed five or six mainstream encryption products would co-exist.

 Check Point provides networking hardware and encryption modules.

 Vendors also have address concerns over long-term security. Network Associates systems engineer Emmanuel Yiu dismissed concerns about PGP's security in the future, as Network Associates was developing 4,096-bit code.

 But security software distributor Yui Kee's technical director Allen Dyer argued that products would need to be highly secure to protect against the possibility of unorthodox attacks in the future.

 'In January, it took three months to break a code, but recently the same feat was accomplished within a week. It could even be possible for someone to, 20 years later, break today's code and forge an agreement of some sort.'  Others pointed to the lack of a legal framework, a factor more important than the level of encryption which was provided.

 KPMG Consulting IT executive director Francis Quek said what was most required for e-commerce was 'the ability to give people legal rights and responsibilities'. He said a single governing body was needed to protect users of e-commerce.

 Organisations that are calling for or working towards the creation of such a body include the Internet Engineering Task Force and the United Nations.

USEFUL WEB SITES http://www.iinet.net.au/~heath/cryp to.html How electronic encryption works and how it will change your business. A well-written summary that is not too technical http://www.techweb.com/se/direct link.cgi?INW19980126S0083 Interesting, though lengthy, article on security in general http://www.catalog.com/sft/encrypt. html Data encryption techniques (quite technical) http://untpdc.gse.rmit.edu.au/untpdc/ welcome.html The United Nations Secure Infrastructure for Electronic Trade, Commerce and Trusted Transactions. Provides information on the Secure Electronic Authenticated Link initiative.

http://www.ietf.org The Internet Engineering Task Force. Provides information on various Internet engineering initiatives.



Recognition sought as authentication standard