Symantec encryption strategy expands PGP, nixes GuardianEdge brand

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By Robert Westervelt, News Director

Symantec Corp. today announced detailed integration plans for its recently acquired encryption vendors, PGP Corp. and GuardianEdge Technologies Inc. The plans include expanding PGP Whole Disk Encryption to support Symantec Data Loss Prevention and eliminating the GuardianEdge brand, upgrading those customers to Symantec Endpoint Encryption.

Symantec acquired PGP and GuardianEdge in April, for a combined $370 million and plans to eventually create a centralized management platform, integrating PGP and GuardianEdge into its existing security products.

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In the same article, two other interesting developments are described...

In addition, Symantec has revealed plans to provide integrated support for Intel's Anti-Theft Technology within PGP Whole Disk Encryption, a necessary step to enable customers to use Intel's chip-based security protections, which include the ability to remotely wipe a hard drive or disable a laptop if it is lost or stolen. The system can later be reactivated if it is recovered. Intel has been slowly rolling out support for its anti-theft protection technologies in its Core i3, Intel Core i5, Intel Core i7, and Intel Core vPro processors.

PGP Whole Disk Encryption will also support encryption acceleration through Intel's AES-NI technology, available in Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. The AES-NI technology speeds the time it takes to encrypt a laptop and increases throughput on solid state drives (SSDs).