Turn on the fax for your eyes only by using PrivaSoft

BANDUNG (JP): I have just received a fax from one of my new suppliers quoting last-minute changes in their sales contract. The fax cover sheet contains the following warning message: "The information contained in this facsimile message is confidential and may also be subject to legal professional privilege.

"Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this fax, or any portion of it, may result in severe civil and criminal penalties, and will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible under the law."

It sounds scary, but in the wrong hands the fax could possibly cause professional damage to the company.

Increased use of fax technology in business has transformed the facsimile into an essential tool. A fax is a true representation of a document; it can be considered a reproduction or qualify as an original document. Each day, untold number of confidential documents are faxed all over the world.

It is relatively easy to intercept fax transmissions. Fax monitoring equipment is readily available, and this can make your confidential communications accessible to your adversaries. To further complicate matters, simply misdialing a fax number may send your communications to the wrong location.

Facsimile machines should be available to receive and send documents 24 hours a day, thus you cannot monitor them continuously. Documents received by facsimile should be treated in a confidential manner. Training and an understanding of the responsibilities regarding the confidentiality and handling of confidential materials should be extended to office staff.

The unwanted disclosure of your personal information can be devastating. Do not turn your facsimile into headlines. PrivaSoft offered by Israeli-based company Aliroo Ltd. (www.aliroo.com) is the perfect privacy solution for the protection of your fax communications over land-line telephone networks. Your fax machine can operate normally or PrivaSoft can be set to scramble document transmissions automatically.

Using proprietary 40-bit encryption for graphic images, PrivaSoft (bundled with PrivaSuite software) offers a unique "eyes-only" protection of fax contents. An encrypted document can be printed, faxed and subsequently decrypted from hard-copy documents. By the way, a scanner is required for the decryption of hard-copy encrypted fax documents.

PrivSoft for Windows is a privacy enhancement tool for Windows users who work with paper documents for correspondence and filing. It allows the user to send, receive and store confidential documents in complete privacy, on plain paper or on a computer file, using ordinary fax equipment. PrivaSoft operation consists of two basic functions: scrambling and descrambling.

Scrambling is the process of converting a document from plain readable form into the coded unintelligible form. After scrambling, the information in the original document becomes a mess of lines, dots and signs.

Descrambling is the process of converting a scrambled document back to a readable plain text document. In order to scramble a document, PrivaSoft uses a user-supplied scrambling key or password that both the sender and the intended recipient have agreed upon.

Scrambling a document from any Windows application is as simple as printing it on the PrivaSoft scrambler printer driver. It is much the same as printing it on a regular printer. The PrivaSoft scrambler printer is a virtual drive used for transferring documents to one of three applications you choose from.

You can use the selected fax modem to send the scrambled documents to the destination fax machine. Another method is to print the scrambled documents on the printer, then fax them over the facsimile machine.

With the last method, you can save the scrambled documents as image files. When you want each page of the document to be saved as a separate file, use BMP or PCX file format. If you want the whole documents to be saved in a single file, use PCR file format, which saves 30 percent disk space on average.

The descrambler printer driver descrambles documents by manipulating the scrambled hard-copy fax and putting each piece back exactly where it belongs. In order to do so, the scrambled hard-copy documents must be saved as a file on the computer. This can be done through a variety of methods using various types of standard office equipment.

You can fax the scrambled hard-copy documents to be descrambled from your regular facsimile to the fax modem on your computer. This configuration is the simplest though it requires two phone lines. If your computer is equipped with a TWAIN compatible scanner, you can scan the scrambled documents with the scanner. Select the scan paper size and total number of pages to be scanned.

During fax transmission, lines may get lost and noise can affect the quality of received faxes, hence there are some tips for obtaining better faxes before scrambling or descrambling. It would be better to use a large font (12 and up) and resolution set at the finest mode (200 x 200 dpi) when sending a fax.

A conventional facsimile usually uses heat-paper, which will fade in light and discolor over time. It is required to copy the scrambled heat-paper onto plain paper, otherwise you cannot properly scan the fax into files.

The main disadvantage of sending secure faxes by the above techniques is both the sender and recipient must have the PrivaSoft software and at least a fax modem to convert the scrambled fax into files, but nevertheless it solves your security concerns.

There is no need to worry that your confidential faxes have been read or copied by unauthorized recipients. They cannot be read by anyone except you as the sender and the intended recipient.

It's hot online, and your precious fax messages could be accessible to anyone, including your staff. But with these security precautions your faxes will be, in the words of Bond- girl Melinda, "For your eyes only, darling."