PGP Corporation
Encyclopedia
PGP Corporation, co-founded by Jon Callas
and Phil Dunkelberger, is based in Menlo Park, California
. PGP Corporation was funded by Rob Theis, General Partner, Doll Capital Management (DCM) and Terry Garnett, General Partner, Venrock Associates. The company is the current owner of the Pretty Good Privacy
codebase, which was originally developed by Phil Zimmermann
. Originally written in 1991, Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) was one of the first freely and publicly available implementations of public-key cryptography
. It was originally used to allow individuals to communicate securely through bulletin board system
s. PGP has since been standardized and supported by many other applications, including email. PGP Corporation acquired the code and rights to the name from Network Associates (NAI) in 2002. The company released version 9 of the software in 2005.
PGP Corporation's focus has shifted towards the corporate market. President and CEO Phil Dunkelberger has said that transparency of use and manageability are the focus of company development efforts. In 2004, the company announced plans to integrate with Symantec
anti-virus technology. In 2010, the company acquired certificate authority TC TrustCenter and its parent company, ChosenSecurity, to form its new PGP TrustCenter division.
On 2010 April 29, Symantec Corp. announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire PGP Corporation.
Jon Callas
Jon Callas is an American computer security expert and Chief Technical Officer of Entrust. Callas has a long history of work in the computer security field, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Additionally, Callas is a contributor to multiple IETF RFCs...
and Phil Dunkelberger, is based in Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
. PGP Corporation was funded by Rob Theis, General Partner, Doll Capital Management (DCM) and Terry Garnett, General Partner, Venrock Associates. The company is the current owner of the Pretty Good Privacy
Pretty Good Privacy
Pretty Good Privacy is a data encryption and decryption computer program that provides cryptographic privacy and authentication for data communication. PGP is often used for signing, encrypting and decrypting texts, E-mails, files, directories and whole disk partitions to increase the security...
codebase, which was originally developed by Phil Zimmermann
Phil Zimmermann
Philip R. "Phil" Zimmermann Jr. is the creator of Pretty Good Privacy , the most widely used email encryption software in the world. He is also known for his work in VoIP encryption protocols, notably ZRTP and Zfone....
. Originally written in 1991, Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) was one of the first freely and publicly available implementations of public-key cryptography
Public-key cryptography
Public-key cryptography refers to a cryptographic system requiring two separate keys, one to lock or encrypt the plaintext, and one to unlock or decrypt the cyphertext. Neither key will do both functions. One of these keys is published or public and the other is kept private...
. It was originally used to allow individuals to communicate securely through bulletin board system
Bulletin board system
A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...
s. PGP has since been standardized and supported by many other applications, including email. PGP Corporation acquired the code and rights to the name from Network Associates (NAI) in 2002. The company released version 9 of the software in 2005.
PGP Corporation's focus has shifted towards the corporate market. President and CEO Phil Dunkelberger has said that transparency of use and manageability are the focus of company development efforts. In 2004, the company announced plans to integrate with Symantec
Symantec
Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...
anti-virus technology. In 2010, the company acquired certificate authority TC TrustCenter and its parent company, ChosenSecurity, to form its new PGP TrustCenter division.
On 2010 April 29, Symantec Corp. announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire PGP Corporation.