FileOpen rights management solutions were designed to enable scalable secure document publishing and sharing. A key part of the FileOpen architecture is that encrypted files retain their original file format (such as Adobe PDF or Microsoft DOCX), and can be viewed and used in their native viewing applications (such as Adobe Reader or Microsoft Word), according to the permissions set by the publisher. In this way, publishers and corporate document authors can distribute files with a minimal (or in some cases none at all) client software download or installation.
Products such as LockLizard Safeguard operate in a fundamentally different way. Files encrypted with LockLizard Safeguard result in a proprietary file format which can only be opened in the proprietary LockLizard client software, and must be downloaded and installed on the end-user's computer or device. The resulting file cannot be viewed in the common viewing applications, with which the end-user is accustomed and which are already installed and trusted.
While there is some simplicity to this closed approach to PDF viewing, it forces the vendor of the proprietary viewer to duplicate a great many features that are already present in the Adobe Acrobat/Reader. One would be hard pressed to find a 3rd party document viewer that comes even close to the depth of the Adobe Acrobat/Reader feature set.
Nearly all of the Adobe Acrobat/Reader features (forms, digital signatures, multimedia, etc.) are implemented via plug-ins, though users may not be aware of the plug-in architecture because the plug-ins are bundled with the Adobe Reader. Claims that this approach is insecure should be considered in the context of the enormous resources Adobe devotes to security. At this point there is probably no other application on the market that is as secure as Adobe Acrobat/Reader.
This is why Adobe exercises control over which partners may load plug-ins in the Adobe Reader and Acrobat viewing applications. Only partners with a valid Reader Integration Key License Agreement ("RIKLA") from Adobe are allowed to perform security and rights management functions within Adobe Reader and Acrobat. FileOpen Systems has been a licensed Adobe RIKLA Security Partner since 2002, when the program was introduced, and continues to be a trusted Adobe partner.
