PGP Desktop Professional: FAQ

General

• What is PGP Desktop Professional and why is it important?
• What business problem does PGP Desktop Professional solve?
• What are the key benefits of PGP Desktop Professional?
• How does PGP Desktop Professional work?
• What is the end-user experience?
• What's new in PGP Desktop Professional 9.8?
• What languages (localization) does PGP Desktop Professional support?
• Is the source code available for download?
• How does PGP Desktop Professional fit into the PGP Encryption Platform architecture?

For additional FAQ related to PGP Desktop Professional's package functionality, see:

• For email encryption: PGP Desktop Email FAQ
• For disk encryption: PGP Whole Disk Encryption FAQ

What is PGP Desktop Professional and why is it important?
PGP Desktop Professional combines the automated desktop email encryption of PGP Desktop Email with the transparent full disk encryption of PGP Whole Disk Encryption, securing the entire contents of a disk, including system and temporary files. PGP Desktop Professional encrypts email as it is received and sent without affecting the end-user email experience. PGP Desktop Professional secures data sent in email from unauthorized access, including administrators with access to the mail server data store. PGP Desktop Professional's full disk encryption capability provides worry-free protection against unauthorized access of private and confidential data.

What business problem does PGP Desktop Email solve?
Email sent to and from an organization can contain the most sensitive customer, patient, financial, or intellect property data. Likewise, data stored on systems or removable media can be easily exposed due to system loss or theft. PGP Desktop Professional allows organizations to meet audit and compliance requirements while securing sensitive data stored on systems or removable media and sent and received through email. 

What are the key benefits of PGP Desktop Professional?
PGP Desktop Professional provides the following benefits:

• Enforces email and data security policies – Used in combination with PGP Universal Server, PGP Desktop Professional automatically secures email messages based on centrally defined email encryption policies while locking down the entire contents of a system drive. 
• Reduces operational costs, accelerates deployment – By operating in the background, PGP Desktop Professional can be quickly deployed without the need for special user training or increased help desk load. As a PGP Encryption Platform–enabled application, PGP Desktop Professional can share policies across groups and quickly tailor them, allowing administrators to deploy PGP Desktop Professional and focus on other projects.

How does PGP Desktop Professional work?
PGP Desktop Professional operates as a local desktop mail proxy service, automatically encrypting/decrypting messages according to policy. PGP Desktop Professional supports the two global email encryption standards, OpenPGP and S/MIME, automatically discovering keys and certificates. The PGP Whole Disk Encryption engine operates at a system level between the operating system and the disk drive, providing user-transparent, sector-by-sector disk encryption and decryption. A successful pre-boot authentication unlocks the decryption key, enabling users to work without any additional changes to their experience. When centrally managed, PGP Desktop Professional's key management, policy, and software updates are managed by PGP Universal Server.

What is the end-user experience?
For end users, PGP Desktop Professional operates in the background, processing email messages based on policy and securing the entire contents of disk drives. If allowed by policy (or if not managed by PGP Universal Server), end users can adapt email and disk encryption policies and change configuration through the PGP Desktop Professional application interface. When encryption operations are performed, PGP Desktop Professional’s notifier window alerts users that an encryption operation is being performed and its status.

What's new in PGP Desktop Professional 9.8?
PGP Desktop Professional 9.8 provides the following new features:

• Expanded client controls – Enable the organization to better meet security requirements by locking down which features are enabled, visible to the user, and enforced.*
• Enhanced status reporting – Enables inspection and reporting on the state of disk encryption in the organization to satisfy regulatory requirements and help prevent a data breach.*
• Increased authentication options – Perform pre-boot and two-factor authentication using smart cards such as the RSA SID800.
• Trusted Platform Module (TPM) support – Protects encryption keys against unauthorized access.
• Rapid deployment process – Speeds deployment by automating the installation and configuration process.

What languages (localization) does PGP Desktop Professional support?
The PGP Desktop Professional user interface is localized in English, German, and Japanese.

Is the source code available for download?
Yes. To validate the integrity of its products, PGP Corporation releases all product source code, including PGP Desktop Professional's, for peer review. For more information, see PGP Source Code.

How does PGP Desktop Professional fit into the PGP Encryption Platform architecture?
PGP Desktop Professional is a PGP Encryption Platform–enabled application managed by PGP Universal Server. PGP Desktop Professional's account management, key management, and policy and software update distribution are automated for all PGP Encryption Platform–enabled applications.