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PKWare Files a Patent Application for Secure .zip

Posted by michael on from the dumb-de-dumb-dumb dept.

prostoalex writes "The battle of ZIP formats might intensify as PKWare filed an application with USPTO to obtain a patent on its Secure Zip technology, which pretty much involves archiving with strong cryptography. If the patent gets granted, PKWare will license its algorithms for other software manufacturers. A representative of Aladdin Systems summed it up: "The good thing about the .zip file format was that you knew you could send it to everyone. Now that's getting broke.""

1 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. WinZip Publishes AES Encryption Standard by ---- · · Score: 5, Insightful
    With the WinZip 9.0 Beta announcement there is this little tidbit ...

    "Advanced encryption
    WinZip 9.0 supports 128- and 256-bit key AES encryption, which provide much greater cryptographic security than the traditional Zip 2.0 encryption method used in earlier versions of WinZip.

    WinZip 9.0's advanced encryption (FIPS-197 certified) uses the Rijndael cryptographic algorithm which, in 2001, was specified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) Publication 197 as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

    After a three-year competition, the AES was announced by NIST as an approved encryption technique for use by the U.S. government, private businesses, and individuals. When properly implemented as a key component of an overall security protocol, the AES permits a very high degree of cryptographic security, yet is fast and efficient in operation.

    WinZip's AES encryption is just as easy to use as traditional Zip 2.0 encryption: all you have to do is select the encryption strength and specify your password.

    Note: recipients to whom you send AES-encrypted Zip files must have a compatible Zip file utility in order to decrypt the files. At this time, WinZip 9.0 is required. We have, however, published the full specification for creating WinZip-compatible AES-encrypted Zip files, and we expect that other Zip file utility vendors will provide support for the format. "


    Funny, it sounds like either they already reverse engineered the pkware zip encryption, or established their own encryption.

    I wonder how many times users will complain to company xyz (that is using pkware encryption for their products) about their files not working in winzip, before company xyz will drop their pkware proprietary encryption in favor of winzip's published (and functional) encryption.

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