http://www.cnet.com/Content/Reviews/Compare/Crypto/?st.cn.fd.main.re CNET reviews the best all-purpose encryption clients By Cormac Foster (4/29/98) Some say the only people who need digital encryption are terrorists, pedophiles, and other forms of unsavory miscreants. Still others say you need to be a computer science whiz to be able to use an encryption product. If you don't qualify for either of these groups, don't panic. You still have a right to privacy, no matter what they say. The fact is we all want a little privacy; that's why we have blinds for our windows, envelopes for our letters, and locks for our drawers. Our PCs are no different. Consider how much sensitive information you keep on your PC, from private letters to financial data. Now consider that unencrypted email is like a postcard, while an unencrypted file on your hard drive is comparable to an open safe. To help you lock up your sensitive information, we've rounded up five all-purpose encryption clients. All of these clients are public-key-based, which means you can use them to conceal your email messages as well as your local files. And you don't need a pocket protector to use these products--most are one-button easy. The best ones integrate seamlessly with your apps, so you can encrypt anything you want without slowing down your productivity. We didn't include S/MIME products because their promise of cross-email compatibility is currently limited to breakable 40-bit encryption, and they don't encrypt local files. If you're concerned about encryption and U.S. export laws, check out our related links below. To see what we think is important in an encryption client, click "What to look for" or go straight to the product reviews, and find out which encryption client we'd use to protect our private stuff. -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Repend Security Incorporated [www.repsec.com]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 12:52:15 PDT