Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Racom Systems (RCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gutterball who wrote (350)	10/28/1998 10:42:00 PM
From: Marty Lee	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 468

Hi everyone.. Here's some of interest. Presuming RCOM is well managed and staffed with happy and talented smart card designers, the company should remain quite viable and carve out a nice chunk of the action to come. The computer industry is one step closer to a hack-proof PC. Major manufacturers--including the IBM Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard Co., Compaq Computer Corp., Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp.--are banding together to create a security standard that would protect data on individual PCs and Internet transactions between PC networks, said sources familiar with the companies' plans. The coalition, which will be unveiled within the next 30 to 60 days, will create a set of APIs and decide how to implement the security system at little or no cost on PCs that will ship as early as next year, the sources said. "By definition, nothing is 100 percent. But we think with this [security] vision, we are making giant steps," said Emilio Ghilardi, Vectra mainstream product operation manager for HP, Palo Alto, Calif. While not providing details about the coalition, other manufacturers voiced support for its goals. "We clearly believe a common set of software and [security] implementation standards are essential," said Phil Hester, chief technology officer of Somers, N.Y.-based IBM Personal Systems Group. The security system's potential is enormous, industry executives said. "It would be a huge win if there is an easy add-on for the existing installed base," said Len Smith, chief technology officer of Inacom Corp., Omaha, Neb. "It will be the best thing since night baseball if they can keep it simple," said Marty Gruhn, vice president of Internet business solutions at Summit Strategies Inc., a Boston-based research firm. The PC security system is an attempt to allay fears about conducting business over the Internet. "It's a way to make people feel better about transactions," one manufacturer said. The system also is more necessary with the growth of the Internet and global networks that stretch the ability of one firewall to ward off intruders, Ghilardi said. "Forget the firewall. There will be a firewall in every PC," he said. The coalition is an outgrowth of PC makers' research and development efforts. PC makers took the lead and began forming partnerships with Intel and I/O chip makers, including National Semiconductor Corp., Santa Clara, Calif. IBM and HP, in particular, will invest research and development funds to develop the PC security system, the sources said. Intel is working on several PC security projects, said a company spokesman, declining further comment. Although the shape the security system will take has not been decided, sources said it will prevent hackers from assuming another person's identity by stealing the user identification code, a practice known as "spoofing" or "sniffing." "It will ensure the integrity of [an E-commerce] transaction and ensure who you are talking to is who they say they are," said one source familiar with the plans. The system would not allow a PC to download Internet applets that are used by hackers to steal data, the sources said. The security system will give each PC its own identification number, sources said. One of the most likely implementations is a low-cost encryption component tacked onto a chip in a PC's I/O subsystem. The I/O component would include basic encryption that would work in tandem with an upper layer of software, sources said. OTHER IMPLEMENTATIONS INCLUDE ENCRYPTION AND SECURITY COMPONENTS INCLUDED IN A SMART CARD OR FINGERPRINT READER, Ghilardi said. Manufacturers want existing PCs to have this security system as well. One upgrade method being discussed is a PCI card with the security features, sources said. Among topics the coalition will discuss is what software and hardware interfaces will be used and how many features will be included in the security system in relation to cost, sources said. Sincerely, Marty