RSA unveils management, encryption products

[R. A. Hettinga]

<http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2003/0,4814,80356,00.html>


Computerworld


RSA
unveils management, encryption products 


By JAIKUMAR VIJAYAN 
APRIL 15,
2003 

 SAN FRANCISCO -- RSA Security Inc. yesterday announced a new
identity and access management system code-named Nexus that it said will
deliver common administration of all the company's security products. 

The
Bedford, Mass.-based company, which is hosting its annual RSA Conference
here this week, also rolled out new technology dubbed Nightingale that
encrypts sensitive data and distributes it across two locations for
enhanced security. 

Nexus will offer users a set of common services for
all of RSA's security products, according to Art Coviello, the company's
president and CEO. 

With it, users will have a common interface for
managing user and access policies, validating the authenticity of digital
certificates and enforcing consistent business and security policies.


Such integration and common interfaces can be like "nirvana," said Luis
Suarez, vice president of PKI and encryption key management at Wachovia
Corp. in Charlotte, N.C. 

Currently, each technology has its own
administrative interface and needs to be managed individually. 

But
pulling off such integration is not without its challenges, Suarez said.
"Right now, everything is disparate." Pulling it all together under one
common management interface will mean integrating efforts across multiple
product and technology groups within RSA. It will also mean getting
technologies that work in different operating system environments to
somehow be integrated and managed using one interface. "If they can pull it
off, it will be really good," he said. 

"The underlying [goal] is to make
management [of disparate] technologies more transparent and seamless," said
David Young, IT program director at Geisinger Health System in Danville,
Pa. "It is something we have been trying to get our hands around" for a
while, Young added. 

RSA's Nightingale technology, meanwhile, is aimed at
better protecting sensitive data using a new form of cryptography called
"secret splitting," according to the company. 

The technology is based on
RSA's BSafe encryption software and is designed so that two servers work
together in encrypting and authenticating data. It is only when the data
from the two servers is combined that it can be retrieved in its original
form. Such splitting ensures better protection against hacker or insider
attacks, according to RSA. 

The technology will be available in the form
of a software development kit later this quarter. It will also be
integrated into future releases of the company's access and identity
management software. 


-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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