New Product Provides Centrally Managed On-the-Fly Protection For Sensitive Data on Personal Computers

Helsinki, Finland, May 29, 1998 -- Data Fellows, a leading developer of data security software, today announced F-Secure FileCrypto, the latest addition to the company’s award-winning cryptographic product line. F-Secure FileCrypto will provide strong, on-the-fly encryption for confidential data in the Microsoft Windows 95/98 and NT 4.0 environments.

"F-Secure FileCrypto is the only file encryption product on the market designed for companies with thousands of PCs," says Mr. Camillo Sars, Product Manager, Data Fellows. "The protection of confidential files has never been this easy. F-Secure FileCrypto is centrally installed over the entire network, and automatically encrypts all open and temporary files. The process is completely transparent to end-users, requiring no action from them at all."

F-Secure FileCrypto is managed from a central location. The administrator can define a security policy for all installed copies of the software. The recommended basic policy is encrypting all directories on the local hard drive.

The program also features a key retrieval function. If a user forgets the password that allows access to encrypted files, the Administrative Key Recovery function manages the situation safely and easily.

According to Mr. Sars: "F-Secure FileCrypto is the first and only product to integrate strong real-time encryption into the Windows file system. It automatically encrypts data before it gets stored on the hard disk, protecting sensitive information even in the most demanding situations. If a PC is improperly turned off, or if a laptop computer’s batteries go dead, any open or temporary files will be encrypted and safe."

F-Secure FileCrypto also has a feature which allows users to send encrypted e-mail to other users. Encrypted e-mail can be decrypted with a password.

F-Secure FileCrypto uses well-known fast block cipher algorithms. Either the three-key 3DES, or the Blowfish algorithm, can be selected. Both algorithms have been analyzed by the world’s leading cryptographers and are known to be strong and safe.

"Files protected by F-Secure FileCrypto are not accessible to computer freaks, hackers, or even cryptography experts. Each file is encrypted with a random session key. Breaking a single key would give someone access to only one file, and the job would consume trillions of years of computer time," says Mr. Sars.

F-Secure FileCrypto for Windows NT 4.0 will be available in July 1998, from Data Fellows’ resellers around the world. F-Secure FileCrypto for Windows 95 and 98 will be available later this year.