UK company offers crypto email for Win2K

London-based data security company Reflex has developed the first commercial encryption email application fully compliant with Windows 2000 as well as with latest S/MIME 3 technology.

Reflex MailSafe applies a Triple-DES 168-bit algorithm to S/MIME 3 email communications and plugs neatly into Microsoft Outlook Express on Windows9X, NT and 2000 platforms. It is one of the strongest commercial product available outside the US, where it is still illegal to export this level of encryption.

S/MIME 3 (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is the latest version of the email protocol designed to ensure secure email communications. It employs the Diffie-Hellman public-key algorithm along with Digital Signature Algorithm for message authentication. This is the standard for British government departments such as the CESG (Communications-Electronics Security Group).

Compatibility with S/MIME 3 and Windows 2000 will make MailSafe attractive to corporations requiring both security and ease of use.

"US government export conditions have forced US and Canadian vendors to use the relatively weak 40-bit RC2 encryption offered by S/MIME 2 in markets outside North America," says Reflex's Managing Director, Andy Campbell. "We're offering much stronger S/MIME 3 encryption, a Triple-DES 168-bit algorithm with Diffie-Hellman key exchange up to 4,096 bits in length.

Campbell also promises that Mailsafe should soon be able across the world adding, "We have absolute confidence that we will acquire an export licence within months, enabling us to offer Reflex MailSafe to customers globally."

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