|
Project Overview
Project Status
Project History
All Projects
|
|
Project Status
Updated 2004
Over the past four years, the following key milestones have been
achieved:
- Desktop to desktop encryption was examined and found lacking
in many areas
- An architecture for domain-to-domain encryption was defined
- Proof of concept of the architecture was demonstrated
- A standard for domain-level encryption was defined as a profile
of IETF standard S/MIME (called S/MIME Gateways or SMGs)
- Working with the Open Group, a product certification program
for SMGs was developed and launched
- Certified, conformant SMG products are now available for purchase
Most of the work in the past year has focused on the development
of the standard and product certification program. This work been
done under the auspices of MA_SHARE and collaboration with the Open
Group Messaging Forum. From the Forum's site:
The vision of The Open Group Messaging Forum is to maintain
and enhance the effectiveness of email for inter-personal communication
and as a backbone for ecommerce.
The project group worked with several Consortium members and nearly
a dozen email security vendors to define the user requirements,
develop the standard, and define the certification program, including
testing and documentation. The joint Consortium/Open Group effort
to address these objectives was launched in July, 2003. One year
later at the Open Group conference in Boston, July 19, 2004, two
vendors, BT
Syntegra and Tumbleweed
Communications, announced certified product availability in
conjunction with the certification
program launch.. In addition, two other vendors, NetIQ and ZixCorp,
announced their participation in the program with certified products
to follow shortly. (NOTE: These two vendors have subsequently been
certified.) The project has received attention from other states,
from the IETF,
and from the New Zealand government, who has been operating its Secure
Electronic Environment (SEEMail) with similar technology for
some years. Full information on the S/MIME
Gateway Certification Program can be found on the Open Group's
Site.
With the availability of certified products, the Consortium hopes
to see rapid deployment among its membership, and thus the enabling
of HIPAA-compliant b2b email communications in Massachusetts. With
this as a foundation, further deployment of secure email on a national
scale should be possible, as well as the development of applications
that leverage the availability of a secure email channel.
This page last updated April 21, 2005
For further information regarding the MA-SHARE initiative and
its projects, please contact Gail Fournier, Partner, CSC Consulting, via
e-mail. We welcome your further questions & look
forward to your participation in our work and our events!
|
|
