A Data Security Inc, Redwood City, California, has won a software licensing agreement with the Office of the Secretary of Defence to provide access to its security software, known as BSafe, to the entire US government on suitably encrypted terms. BSafe uses public-key encryption as well as other cryptographic technology to provide key management, data privacy and digital signatures for authentication of electronically stored or transmitted information. It will initially be available to support the Protection of Logistics Unclassified Sensitive Data programme, the basis of which was the Computer Security Act of 1987 in which the Congress mandated protection of the massive amounts of data in the Defense Department. The Office of Automation Support & Technology launched the programme in 1982 and began testing RSA’s software under an evaluation licence which has now become a permanent licence and also includes the rest of the US government. It is being used inter alia in Electronic Data Interchange for purchase orders, acknowledgements, and payments electronically involving not only industry but financial institutions. RSA’s patented technology was recently proposed and endorsed as a standard for Internet’s Privacy Enhanced Mail. It has also been proposed as a standard by CCITT, the United Nations worldwide standards making body. RSA’s licensees and OEM customers include DEC, Racal-Milgo, Motorola, Fischer International Systems Corp and Lotus Development Corp. RSA’s end-user products include MailSafe, a personal computer security product, and RSASign and RSACheck which provide digital signature capabilities for MS-DOS personal computers, Macintosh, VAX/VMS and Unix. All products are available in Europe directly from UK headquartered Computer Security Ltd, supplier of data security systems.
