From: Vin McLellan <vin@shore.net>
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 1997 20:49:04 -0800 (PST)
To: Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com>
Subject: Re: Encrypting ZIP drives?
Message-ID: <199701230448.XAA28286@relay1.shore.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Lucky Green <shamrock@netcom.com> who is usually answering questions, wrote:

>>>I am looking for a transparent (strong) encryption of ZIP drives.
>>>Any advice would be appreciated.
<snip>

>Parallel on Win95.

        Hi Lucky,

        RSA has got their Win95 version of SecurPC.  That's 128-bit RC4
encryption; maybe 10X the speed of DES.  You could encrypt your zip data
from Explorer either on demand, or automatically upon exiting WIN95. (It
auto-decrypts on startup.)  SecurPC doesn't  yet have transparent (fully
background) crypto, but given the market pressures, it obviously won't be
long in coming. 

        SecurPC does have a number of other unusual features that might
offset the lack of transparency.  My favorite: At least until the next
version of ERA;-) RSA's SecurPC permits you to ship data over the US borders
encrypted with 128-bit RC4 in a self-extracting file which can be opened by
anyone, anywhere --  with the same OS as the sender, and the right
(one-time?) password -- even if they don't have a copy of SecurPC.   

         The key, passed out of band, is certainly not up to PKC
standards... but for occasional connections, if you duck the dictionary
attack, it looks pretty damn sturdy. One-way symmetric-- kinda neat!
(Anyone know how it really works?  I got a copy of the v1 user's manual from
SDTI, where I do a lot of contract work -- but it doesn't really explain the
split of  functions. I'll have to ask.)

       Suerte,
                        _Vin