Drumlin Security Launches Ground-breaking Low Cost PDF Security Service

UK (PRWEB) March 3, 2008 -- Drumlin Security (http://www.drumlinsecurity.co.uk) today announced the full commercial release of its unique high-security PDF publishing and distribution service. The service has a zero entry cost and includes its free Drumlin PDF reader/publisher and free PDF writer, coupled with a very competitively priced digital rights management (DRM) service.

The Drumlin software and service ensures that PDF versions of documents such as books, market research reports, courseware, subscription newsletters, financial statements, contracts and similar materials can be distributed with complete safety. The fully secured version of PDFs created using the Drumlin software can be placed on a web site, CD or emailed to a user or customer without concern that they might be intercepted, read, decrypted or copied.

A simpler secure publishing option is also included in the standard software (basic secure publishing option). It enables secured PDF files to be created with a range of controls on usage, but without requiring subsequent authorization. Such files can be generated without charge but may be copied from one computer to another. This is ideal for date-limited documents and previews or extracts of commercial publications.

Drumlin has already attracted commercial users. One early client is international engineering company, Anton Paar GmbH (http://www.anton-paar.com). They wanted to create a CD containing several 1000 PDF files to send out to distributors throughout the world. Anton Parr used Drumlin's built-in bulk creation facility to generate the necessary files, with fixed start and end dates, and with unlimited viewing but no requirement for individual document authorization. A copy of the Drumlin software installation kit, branded with Anton Parr's corporate logo and preferred settings, was included on the CD, ensuring the whole process was simple and fast to setup for their distributors.

As a second example, author Lars Brodersen has just published an academic textbook (in Danish) using Drumlin. In this case the document is fully secured, with unlimited viewing and printing permitted, but copying from machine-to-machine prevented. He issues authorization codes to individuals ordering his book having pre-purchased blocks of these codes from Drumlin Security.

The "reader" features in the Drumlin PDF reader/publisher provide a full-functionality viewer for PDFs and secured PDFs. Its PDF handling is built upon the market-leading PDF software development library PDFNet SDK from PDFTron Systems Inc. (http://www.pdftron.com) which supports all existing levels of PDF. Javascript and attached objects are disabled, ensuring that the Drumlin reader is not at risk from the widely reported problems of viruses associated with some other PDF readers.

The "publisher" facility in the Drumlin PDF reader/publisher strongly encrypts conventional PDF files with the option to ensure that they can only be read once they have been authorized. Even then, these files can only be opened on the individual PC on which they have been authorized - such files cannot be copied and read elsewhere. Drumlin's publisher facility enables many controls to be applied to such documents, such as enabling or disabling text copy facilities; setting start and end dates for viewing; and specifying the number of times a document may be viewed, and the number of times it may be printed (if at all).

The "authorization" facility within the Drumlin PDF reader enables the recipient of a secured PDF to open the document. They enter an alphanumeric authorization code supplied to them by the publisher of the secured PDF, which is checked against the records on the central Drumlin DRM service. If all is OK the file is decrypted, saved on disk as a new encrypted file and the user can view and optionally print this file according to the settings the publisher has made.

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