PKWARE, Inc
Encyclopedia
PKWARE, Inc. was founded in 1986 by Phil Katz
, co-inventor of the ZIP
standard. PKWARE provides data-centric security solutions across all major computing platforms, and is known for its data compression
and file management solutions. Organizations in industries such as banking, financial services, healthcare and government use PKWARE solutions to solve a variety of common business problems relating to data security, compression, and file management.
In 2001 and 2005, PKWARE was awarded patents for patching technology used within PKZIP products. In 2005, PKWARE was awarded a patent for methods used to manage .ZIP files within the Windows file manager and Outlook. In total PKWARE holds four patents, has over fourteen pending patents and is referenced in over eighty patents.
systems that allows the compression (and decompression using the PKXARC/PKUNPAK utilities) of multiple files into the ARC file format
.
archiver. PKZIP was a faster alternative than ARC and was quickly adopted.
Originally, PKZIP was written as shareware for DOS
. Since its creation, PKWARE has expanded support of PKZIP to Windows Desktop, Windows Server, UNIX, Linux, IBM i, and zSeries platforms. A zip archive can be transferred among any of these platforms when creating and extracting with PKZIP.
New versions of PKZIP added strong encryption algorithms to accommodate security needs.
For a brief period of time, PKWARE offered SecureZIP Express, a free version of SecureZIP available only on Windows Desktop, for non-commercial use. SecureZIP Express came with the option of receiving a Comodo digital certificate, good for one year. PKWARE discontinued SecureZIP Express at the end of 2009. Comodo certificates are still available with purchased copies of SecureZIP.
SecureZIP uses a contingency key in its Enterprise version of the software. This key is essentially a master key. Contingency keys are necessary for audit review, or in the case of lost or stolen passphrases. The contingency key is assigned to a trusted user in the organization. That key is then used with every encrypted file as part of the natural work flow.
Phil Katz
Phillip Walter Katz was a computer programmer best known as the co-creator of the zip file format for data compression, and the author of PKZIP, a program for creating zip files which ran under DOS.- Career :...
, co-inventor of the ZIP
ZIP (file format)
Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is...
standard. PKWARE provides data-centric security solutions across all major computing platforms, and is known for its data compression
Data compression
In computer science and information theory, data compression, source coding or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation would use....
and file management solutions. Organizations in industries such as banking, financial services, healthcare and government use PKWARE solutions to solve a variety of common business problems relating to data security, compression, and file management.
History
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1985 | Phil Katz starts distributing the PKXARC utility. |
| 1986 | PKWARE is founded by Phil Katz |
| 1988 | Lawsuit from SEA over distribution of the PKARC utility. |
| 1989 | PKWARE stop distributing PKARC .ZIP file format is introduced, first PKZIP PKZIP PKZIP is an archiving tool originally written by Phil Katz and marketed by his company PKWARE, Inc. The common "PK" prefix used in both PKZIP and PKWARE stands for "Phil Katz".-History:... version is released. |
| 2001 | New management team, led by George Haddix and backed by investment-banking firm Grace Matthews, purchase PKWARE |
| 2002 | PKWARE Partners with RSA Security, Inc. PKWARE Acquires Ascent Solutions Awarded PC Magazine's Editors' Choice for data compression software |
| 2004 | SecureZIP is released for Windows Desktop, Windows Server, UNIX, and Linux |
| 2005 | SecureZIP extends to midrange and mainframe platforms |
| 2006 | SecureZIP PartnerLink is released |
| 2009 | Novacap Techologies and Maranon Capital, in partnership with management, acquire PKWARE PKWARE names new CEO, V. Miller Newton |
Patents
Phil Katz was granted a patent in September, 1991 for his efficient search functions used in the PKZIP compression process.In 2001 and 2005, PKWARE was awarded patents for patching technology used within PKZIP products. In 2005, PKWARE was awarded a patent for methods used to manage .ZIP files within the Windows file manager and Outlook. In total PKWARE holds four patents, has over fourteen pending patents and is referenced in over eighty patents.
.ZIP App Note
PKWARE publishes an Application Note on the .ZIP file format. This Application Note ensures continued interoperability of the .ZIP file format for all users, The APPNOTE provides developers a general description and technical details of the .ZIP file storage specification.ZIP Reader
ZIP Reader is a free Windows utility. Any ZIP file can be opened with the reader program, regardless of where it was created. To open an archive, the user can drag and drop the desired zip file over the program and it will extract. A second method is to simply select which file to extract from within the utility. An email address is required to download ZIP Reader from the PKWARE website.PKARC, PKPAK
PKPAK (formerly known as PKARC) is a software utility for MS-DOSMS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
systems that allows the compression (and decompression using the PKXARC/PKUNPAK utilities) of multiple files into the ARC file format
ARC (file format)
ARC is a lossless data compression and archival format by System Enhancement Associates . It was very popular during the early days of networked dial-up BBS. The file format and the program were both called ARC...
.
PKZIP
PKZIP is a software utility that allows for the compression/decompression of multiple files and folders into a single archive. The name PKZIP comes from a combination of Phil Katz, the inventor, and ZIP, for the ZIP file format. Katz co-created the ZIP file format after a legal dispute with Software Enhancement Associates (SEA) over their ARCARC (file format)
ARC is a lossless data compression and archival format by System Enhancement Associates . It was very popular during the early days of networked dial-up BBS. The file format and the program were both called ARC...
archiver. PKZIP was a faster alternative than ARC and was quickly adopted.
Originally, PKZIP was written as shareware for DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
. Since its creation, PKWARE has expanded support of PKZIP to Windows Desktop, Windows Server, UNIX, Linux, IBM i, and zSeries platforms. A zip archive can be transferred among any of these platforms when creating and extracting with PKZIP.
New versions of PKZIP added strong encryption algorithms to accommodate security needs.
SecureZIP
SecureZIP was released in 2004 by PKWARE as an extension of PKZIP. SecureZIP not only contained the same compression and passphrase protection as PKZIP but also introduced digital signature authentication and digital certificate-based encryption.For a brief period of time, PKWARE offered SecureZIP Express, a free version of SecureZIP available only on Windows Desktop, for non-commercial use. SecureZIP Express came with the option of receiving a Comodo digital certificate, good for one year. PKWARE discontinued SecureZIP Express at the end of 2009. Comodo certificates are still available with purchased copies of SecureZIP.
SecureZIP uses a contingency key in its Enterprise version of the software. This key is essentially a master key. Contingency keys are necessary for audit review, or in the case of lost or stolen passphrases. The contingency key is assigned to a trusted user in the organization. That key is then used with every encrypted file as part of the natural work flow.