Back in March we talked about how we’re changing OX Guard, our email encryption solution, to fully support PGP and make it easier than ever for users to send encrypted emails and files.
We’re delighted to announce that the work is now done and that service providers will be offering the new version of OX Guard within the next few weeks.
Let me take a moment to explain why we’ve made the change and how users are going to benefit.
When we first developed OX Guard, we set out to make it a fully integrated and feature-rich security add-on to OX App Suite that provides end users with a flexible email and file encryption solution.
Crucially, we also wanted to keep it simple enough so that end users will actually use it.
We like to think we succeeded in striking the right balance. Indeed, our service providers and their end users told us they loved being able to use Guard to take control of their security with a single click and send secure emails and share encrypted files.
However, there were other issues.
When we started work on Guard, initially the choice was taken to develop the encryption piece of it as a proprietary, but still standard-based solution. There were a number of good reasons for this, including the fact that holding our own content (AES) key enabled us to quickly introduce features like retraction of files/emails, expiration dates and positive verification of when/if items are decoded.
But the main disadvantage with using a proprietary solution was that it meant that email and files could not be opened by any system other than Guard. In addition, due to the nature of how Guard managed the keys (for example for expiration and retraction), you couldn’t use it offline.
These shortfalls in capability were understandably a concern to many of our customers, so we listened closely to the feedback and have now implemented a solution using standard PGP encryption.
Of course, PGP has been around for a long time, and some would argue that there must be reasons why really hasn’t caught on with the masses.
But we believe that those barriers have only been caused by the confusion over managing the keys, understanding trust, PGP format types, and lack of trusted central key repositories.
The big news is that new version of Guard simplifies all of this, making PGP encryption an easy one-click process, with no keys to keep track of; yet with the options of advanced PGP management for advanced users that have the right level of knowledge.
In other words, it’s a huge step toward introducing genuine, standards-based encryption that can stand up against the constant corporate and governmental attacks on individual privacy.
If you like to find out more, you can get a more detailed overview of all the new features and improvements to OX Guard here http://software.open-xchange.com/products/guard/doc/OX_Guard_Product_Guide_2_0.0.pdf
If you’re service providers or on-premises users of OX App Suite and would like to evaluate OX Guard, simply contact your Open-Xchange Sales rep; they’ll be happy to connect with you to provide pricing and license details.
Finally, a word about Phil Zimmerman, who first developed PGP as an act of political defiance against state snooping back in 1991. We’ve always fully supported and sympathized with Phils’ views, so we hope that our efforts to simplify PGP and bring it into more mainstream use will bring a smile to his face.
