Drumlin Security

For a brief explanation of how the Drumlin PDF software and associated Digital Rights Management service works, please read the section "The Drumlin Software and Service" below. If you would prefer, take a quick look at how it works, by clicking on the image below which takes you to a set of Flash video introductions to using and securely publishing with the Drumlin reader/publisher software


For GUIDANCE FOR PUBLISHERS and usage terms please click here
For a PDF with MORE DETAILS about Drumlin please click here
For SAMPLE SECURED DOCUMENTS please click here
For a discussion on HOW SECURE IS SECURE? please click here
For details on having a free, complete solution on your own servers (ENTERPRISE EDITION) please click here
If you want to know HOW COME IT'S FREE?, please click here!

The Drumlin Software and Service

There are two main parts to the Drumlin service:

1. Client software: The free 'Drumlin' PDF reader/publisher - the Drumlin program is like the Adobe Acrobat (c) PDF reader but with stronger encryption which is effectively impossible to break. All communication exchanges are strongly encrypted and unlike other products there are no insecure temporary files are used whilst handling documents. Drumlin is not susceptible to decryption using the free or low-cost PDF decryption software widely available on the web. It ensures that a published document (DRMX files) can only be viewed by a person who has been authorized, and only on the specific computer that has been authorized for this document. Many other controls on access and usage are provided - please see services for more details. Drumlin supports secure PDF document publishing with extensive controls available to the publisher, e.g. how many times the document can be viewed, whether it can be printed, when viewing can start and when viewing is no longer permitted etc. A guide to the Reader/Publisher software is available in standard PDF format from here - if you need to produce the basic PDF from your source document (e.g. a Word document, a Publisher document) use Adobe Acrobat, or a free or low cost PDF creation facility like CutePDF or PDF Creator Plus

2. Server : A central "digital rights management" (DRM) service that manages user access to published secure PDFs and related transaction information. Publishers, who must be registered users of the service, can obtain authorization codes or publishing quotas for their own documents via this facility. Authorization codes are not required for sample/evaluation documents ("Basic DRM files") which have pre-defined limitations on their use or may be set to have these restrictions on viewing and printing removed. Free authorization codes are provided to publishers for use in conjunction with the highly secure DRMX format ("Fully secured files").