An article by Gerd Schramm, <data> S
The scandals involving excessive intelligence activities, which have recently been brought to light by whistleblowers, have alarmed citizens and businesses alike. One thing has become clear: If we implement targeted protective measures to secure communication over insecure networks—such as the Internet—against unauthorized data interception, we are not defenseless against such schemes.
Secure communication—for example, via email—can be achieved through the use of encryption technology (cryptography). IT users cite the fact that the programs are either too complicated or, at best, too user-unfriendly as the biggest obstacle to using encryption techniques. Such statements may be true for certain encryption methods. Certificate-based encryption (PKI, Public Key Infrastructure), however, is quite different: Simply put, the encryption mechanism is directly implemented in the email client, such as Outlook, so that with just a single mouse click, you can specify that all outgoing emails—provided the respective recipient also uses email encryption—will be encrypted without any further action on the sender’s part. This offers the greatest possible convenience and the simplest user experience.
Email encryption offers three key trust factors compared to sending unencrypted messages over the Internet; these are
- Confidentiality: Only authorized individuals are able to view the message or the exchanged data.
- Authenticity: The sender of the message or the originator of the data can be clearly verified and identified.
- Integrity: If the message or exchanged data has been tampered with by a third party, this will be detectable.
In addition to traditional email clients for PCs, email clients on tablet computers and smartphones can also be configured for certificate-based encryption. This makes it possible to achieve comprehensive, secure communication across a user’s various devices. And all this for about €3.50 per user per month.
Let us advise you on the use of certificate-based encryption technology.
