What is email encryption and why do you need it?

In their white paper, MessageLabs (now Symantec) confirmed the majority of emails in circulation today are unencrypted, meaning they are not secure during transit and can ultimately be read by anybody. With so much at stake, many organisations are now considering email encryption. But what are the business benefits and how does it work?

The Case for Email Encryption

1. It helps reduce the risk of data loss
2. It helps companies comply with legal and professional requirements
3. It helps establish trust and credibility with your customers and suppliers

Stories of data loss seem to make the headlines with alarming regularity and email is one of the principle ways in which information can fall into the wrong hands. Once data has been leaked, it is very hard to re-secure and the negative PR that this can generate can do serious damage to a company’s reputation.

Besides the specific regulatory requirements within industry sectors such as finance, insurance and medicine, the Data Protection Act 1998 actually requires all companies to take measures to prevent accidental loss of data. There are obvious legal risks that could arise from wrongful disclosure by your organisation and the Information Commissioner can also issue a public enforcement notice. Again, avoiding this kind of eventuality would go a long way to sparing your company’s blushes.

How does Email Encryption work?

Email encryption means your email data is scrambled and only through the use of the correct cryptographic key can it be un-encrypted. The main purpose of this technology is to protect email packets from being intercepted and read by a hacker.

The MessageLabs report points out that this kind of practice is a common part of everyday life online today:

Encryption is not just for spooks and the military. It’s part of everyday life but it goes unnoticed most of the time. Millions of people use SSL certificates to encrypt ecommerce and other online transactions. Mobile phone conversations are encrypted to prevent eavesdropping and, with the right settings, so are wireless networks.

CST offers regular Webex encryption strategies and solutions and being the longest serving independent security specialist in the UK are ideally placed to offer impartial advice and recommendations, please contact us for details.

Opinion & Resources

We have noticed that the greatest barrier to encryption is the commonly held (and incorrect) perception that encryption is complex and will negatively impact user productivity. Encryption is neither as today's technologies are faster, include features to deal with forgotten passwords and corrupted cypher keys, integrate into director services for seamless group access policy adoption, and even allow for the recipients of an encrypted email to read such emails without the need for any encryption software.

 

The barrier to securing information has long fallen away, and although we are often asked to discuss the impact and user experience of using encryption, we are ironically seldom requested to demonstrate its strength!

Nigel Lewis