Fresh from licensing its RecoverKey encryption technology to IBM Corp (CI No 3,086) Glenwood, Maryland-based Trusted Information Systems has now signed up six further supporters. The firewall and encryption software vendor has signed letter of intent with Entrust Technology Inc, McAfee Associates Inc, PC Guardian Inc, Philips Crypto BV, Rainbow Technolgies Inc, and Secured Communications Canada Inc. Hewlett-Packard Co and Tandem Computers Inc’s Atalla subsidiary also recently signed agreements for the technology. RecoverKey enables the recovery of keys needed to decode encrypted data, in the event that the encryption keys are lost, damaged or unavailable. It creates a backup key which stays with the encrypted message or file until needed. The extra key can then be decrypted by a chosen private sector key recovery center as and when required. Trusted Information Systems, along with IBM, formed an 11-strong hardware and software vendor alliance last year (CI No 3,012, 3,016) to promote key recovery, proposing the idea of no one individual having possession of the recovery key.
