LockLizard Releases Version 2.5 of Lizard Safeguard

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LockLizard has launched the latest release of their secure PDF product, Lizard Safeguard for DRM management. LockLizard have dropped the use of Acrobat Reader for rendering of PDF content, increasing the usability and security of the system. LockLizard's CEO, Ken Briggs, commented: "Getting users to download a 20MB+ viewer (Adobe Acrobat) just to view protected PDF documents was just not feasible. Whilst many users have Adobe Acrobat installed, we find a lot of users do not. In addition, our research leads us to believe that interoperating with Acrobat reader may expose us to security risks that are not always under our control. We have therefore redeveloped our secure viewer so as not to rely on external environments that we are not in charge of, and that were not designed with security in mind".

Ironically, LockLizard noted, Adobe have also recently dropped Acrobat as their secure PDF viewer platform for the upcoming secure ebook offering, Digital Editions, which was announced at ten times the price of Lizard Safeguard for a perpetual license. One of the main new features for publishers is watermarking on viewing and printing. You can now have an image, custom text, and system data (date/time, user name and email address) displayed when a user prints and/or views your documents. This is a much more satisfactory approach than working with degraded printing, as user information can be displayed to deter photocopying, and the use of moir? images can be used to ensure that photocopying produces extremely poor quality copies.

Other features include support of 200MB files, and a number of new DRM enforcing security controls. These include the prevention of a wide range of third party screen grabbers, and print to file/image drivers that might enable users to obtain unauthorized copies of protected documents.

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