NetLOCK licenses Cylink Corp. security technology; patented public key encryption technology secures network communications

Business Wire, April 16, 1996

FULLERTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 1996--NetLOCK, a unit of Hughes Electronics Corp., Tuesday announced that it has licensed patented security technology from Cylink Corp. (NASDAQ:CYLK) (Diffie-Hellman, Hellman-Merkle patents covering public key cryptography), NetLOCK incorporates Cylink's technology in NetLOCK security software for network communications, to authenticate the identity of NetLOCK Agents and to exchange public keys used in secure communications.

NetLOCK provides authentication, encryption and integrity for network communications over LANs, intranets and the Internet.

``Today's global marketplace requires a reliable, timely and cost-efficient means for exchanging information,'' said Jim Woods, chief information officer of Hughes Electronics Corp.

``The emerging global information superhighway is providing that means. But what we do not yet know fully is how safe our electronic information is. Is it safe from snoopers? From competitors? Or from current or former employees?''

``As the use of intranets and the Internet for corporate communications increases, organizations need a security tool that allows them to define and implement a network security policy that cannot be overlooked or circumvented by the user,'' said John Garber, general manager of NetLOCK.

``NetLOCK provides this tool. In addition, NetLOCK is committed to providing complete cross platform compatibility to allow organizations to secure all of their network communications.''

``NetLOCK uses Cylink's technology to provide a combination of strong authentication and automatic rekeying,'' said David Morris, vice president of marketing and sales for Cylink. ``Organizations will benefit from NetLOCK's cross platform compatibility, and flexibility based on well-established encryption algorithms.''

NetLOCK provides authentication, encryption and integrity that is completely automatic and transparent to the end user. Encryption and integrity are controlled by the network security administrator and cannot be turned off by the user. Users, no matter where they are on the network, simply work the way they always have.

NetLOCK consists of two software components: a security management program and any number of independent, intelligent software Agents. Agents, running on any combination of Windows, DOS, Macintosh or UNIX computers, provide secure encrypted communications over local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), intranets or public networks like the Internet.

The NetLOCK Manager configures and manages NetLOCK Agents and monitors the security of the network by providing auditing and alert notification.

The Manager maintains a local database of all Agent security control data, including the choice of Triple DES, DES, RC2, RC4 or a proprietary Hughes algorithm, CXOR, for encryption. NetLOCK Agent software automatically creates temporary traffic encryption keys, provides authentication, and enforces the rules of communication security established by the network security administrator.

A secure installation procedure ensures that security controls are properly initialized on each computer so they can be trusted to respond to management commands sent only from the authorized security management computer.

The NetLOCK Manager establishes the mechanism for authentication between Agents by generating and distributing certificates of authentication during setup that it digitally ``signs'' using a public key algorithm. Each NetLOCK Agent uses this certificate to authenticate the other Agent in a secure session.

Because the certificates are digitally signed by the NetLOCK Manager, each Agent has irrefutable evidence that the other Agent is legitimate. And, since certificates are automatically generated and distributed during Agent setup, secure communications can be carried out without the direct intervention of the NetLOCK Manager.

When two NetLOCK computers communicate with one another, the source and destination Agents collaborate to generate a secret encryption key. The Agents then exchange ``certificates'' to validate and authenticate each other's identity. By providing this intelligence in the Agents, NetLOCK requires no key servers nor key administration.

While NetLOCK Agent software must be installed on both computers participating in secure, end-to-end communications, any Agent computer can also engage in unsecured network communications with other computers unless specifically restricted from doing so by the NetLOCK Manager. This provides an unprecedented level of flexibility for network security administrators.

NetLOCK is available now to support PC, Macintosh and UNIX platforms. NetLOCK recently announced NetLOCK for Windows NT, LAN WorkPlace and Solaris will be available in May 1996. NetLOCK for Windows 3.1 and Netware will be available in June 1996. NetLOCK for the Macintosh Open Transport AppleTalk protocol will be available in July 1996. NetLOCK for Windows 95 will be available in August 1996.

These are the latest in a series of product introductions by NetLOCK. NetLOCK also currently supports the Macintosh Open Transport TCP/IP protocol, Sun OS and HP-UX.