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NAI belatedly joins OpenPGP Alliance

Phil Zimmermann writes to thank The Reg

Network Associates (NAI) has joined an alliance designed to promote interoperability between email encryption packages after a Register article pointed out its conspicuous absence from the group.

The move means that the OpenPGP Alliance, created by Phil Zimmermann, now includes PGP Security, the NAI division that is the main supplier of PGP-based encryption products for business.

Zimmermann wrote to The Register to thank us for whatever help we might have provided in encouraging NAI to get involved in the group's worthwhile efforts.

Phil Zimmermann's letter said:

"Your article seems to have alerted NAI that they should get moving to join the OpenPGP Alliance. I had invited them to join a week before our press release, by talking to my friend Mark McArdle, PGP Security's vice president of engineering.

"Mark said they would like to join, but he had to get it approved through all the layers of company management. A week went by, perhaps because of people travelling, or on holiday, or something. The other alliance members wanted to get our press release out soon, so we had to go without NAI's official response to our invitation, leaving them out of the initial launch.

"After seeing your article, they called me and asked if they could join, and now they are in the alliance. You can see an updated member list on our web page at OpenPGP.org"

OpenPGP is a non-proprietary protocol for encrypting email using public key cryptography based on the popular encryption program, PGP, which was first created by Zimmermann. The protocol, as defined by IETF RFC 2440, is essential an alternative standard to S/MIME (Secure Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extensions), which is supported in the latest version of browsers from Microsoft and Netscape.

The OpenPGP Alliance was formed to help ensure compatibility among encrypted email systems, and to help extend the OpenPGP format to other non-email applications that can benefit from privacy protection. It is organising interoperability testing, in co-operation with the IETF, at Qualcomm's San Diego facilities this summer. ®

External Links

OpenPGP Alliance Formed to Advance Standard in PKI Based Software
OpenPGP Alliance

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