GroupWise Encryption - obfuscation?

Question

I have heard that GroupWise offers something no other email solution offers and that is message encryption. It is my understanding that this is native encryption, out of the box but I have also read it has to be licensed. I am confused and need some clarification is there true encryption or is it just obfuscation (which to me is different)?
If it is a licensed feature how can I be sure I have it? Is this a MTA to MTA encryption? I am just not sure I understand and need to know what GroupWise offers that no other solutions do not and how it is achieved.

Answer 1

On 11/10/2010 10:06 PM, Bob-O-Rama wrote:
>
> Going all the way back to the beginnings of GroupWise, it was / could be
> implemented on a shared file system ( conveniently, because "hey, we
> sell those!" ) where all the clients directly had access to the post
> office files. I.e. any user has access to any other users message
> files. GroupWise implemented a file level encryption scheme which
> ensured the privacy of user's messages. This has been enhanced and
> carried forwarded even though this "direct" access method faded away.
> So even if I were to hand you the files in the POA, you would not be
> able to decrypt them. The messages passed between various GroupWise
> components are similarly protected. So no, they are not "obfuscated"
> via something dumb like ROT-13. What is the actual crypto used?
> Novell's usual statement is that it is "proprietary and very secure."
> The GW documentation provides info on securing message flows between
> components, and between GroupWise and external mail systems.
>
> -- Bob
>
>
However I am not sure this is some magical feature that only GW has.....
and frankly it is a pretty minor line of defense. Anyone knowing what
they are doing, if given an entire domain/po can probably get at it.
So as usual it is bad to allow access to the files :)