What is RMS?

You might be asking what exactly is Rights Management Services and why would I want to implement this version 1 product? The short answer is that it is used to protect highly sensitive documents, reduce liability and information disclosure.

RMS is not the golden egg by any means. It should be used in conjunction with other solutions such as smart cards to protect private keys, perimeter security, etc.

RMS does not require nor utilize standard x.509 certificates (PKI) but rather uses XrML based certificates (based on XML, www.XrML.org)

In order to understand RMS under the covers, you need to understand that RMS Is based on public key technology, symmetric keys (content key) and certificates. RMS uses a server as an intermediary to solve some of the traditional challenges associated with public key technology (public/private key process is CPU intensive and slow, distribution of symmetric key to recipient, etc.)