The Hindu Business Line : No peeking

GEORGE Bush Jr is a symbol of power in the modern world. George Bush is afraid of sending e-mails to his daughters for fear that his `personal stuff' might end up in the public domain.

TheRegister.co.uk quotes him as saying, "I don't want you reading my personal stuff. There has got to be a certain sense of privacy."

He believes that citizens are entitled to know how he makes decisions. But, "I don't think you're entitled to be able to read my mail between my daughters and me."

So, is there a business opportunity there? Sure is. Robert Raja, who has been associated with developing software related to security, and his team, have come up with Keygloo, a piece of software that helps the average Joe encrypt his files on his desktop and his e-mails.

There are so many such examples of software out there. So why is Keygloo different?

Raja says, "It helps you encrypt your e-mails even when you are using Web-based e-mail systems." Keygloo is currently available for use with Yahoo! and Hotmail systems in addition to Outlook Express. The Keygloo team is working on the version that will also be in use with Gmail and Lycos mail systems. That version is expected out shortly.

Encrypting mails that use Web-based email systems could impact e-mail service providers who dish out advertisements on your screen relevant to the contents of your e-mail.

Raja believes that they could face a challenge here. Gmail is an example of an e-mail system that uses ads relevant to the contents of the e-mail.

Interestingly, when a Keygloo spokesperson sent this writer an encrypted e-mail to a Gmail account the content, though containing letters of the English alphabet, was all garbled. The two ads that appeared in this particular case had something to do with JVC products. The models had `kd' as part of its name. The e-mail content too, had `kd' in the body of the message. The inference is that on spotting the two letters together, the e-mail system looked up the closest match among its advertisers and threw up those ads.

How it works

It is similar to the private and public key based encryption systems that Indian governments and companies have been talking about for sometime now. The difference here is that you don't need a digital certificate sent to you by a government-approved certificate authority.

You log on to www.keygloo.com, register, obtain a 10-digit number from the site and download the keygloo software onto your machine.

When you send e-mail to another person, you need to know his 10-digit keygloo number in order to be able to encrypt the e-mail. Entering that person's keygloo ID is a one-time event.

Once it reaches the recipient, he alone can decrypt the e-mail using Keygloo software that in turn uses his private key.

Ask Raja if remembering one's own 10-digit number and all those of other people you want to keep in touch with is not cumbersome, and he says, "It's like an e-mail ID. Don't we enter a contact's email ID or a10-digit mobile number once into our database by typing it out?

If you think about it, it isn't that big an effort."

Keygloo is also useful for encrypting files and folders that you won't want other users of your PC to see. The 10-digit number is only a pointer to your private key that Keygloo gives you. The private key need not be memorised and can be kept in a safe location such as a removable memory stick that you can bring into office and take out with your key chain every day.

George Bush could try sending his daughters e-mails from now.

Picture by Bijoy Ghosh

bharatk@thehindu.co.in

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