Email Encryption for Enterprises

In today’s corporate scenario, you can now automatically encrypt your attachment and send e-mail messages by using the appropriate email encryption software! This is especially vital in case of sensitive business information. For example, you can deploy encryption while forwarding personnel information as via payroll processor. E-mails do not offer a default protection hence the need for outside security measures. Such software may also work at client levels protecting mails as they travel from the sender to the receiver.

Besides the big companies, small businesses too can reap plenty of benefits through proper encryption to prevent breaches of data. Since it is low-cost investment, using such solutions makes complete sense. Alternatives are also available like use of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) more expensive to both implement and maintain. Here, every user needs to get both private and public key pairs with the user having the responsibility of protecting the private one. Public key will go to any one sending encrypted e-mails. The key generation occurs automatically as required with behind-the-scenes management.

Is your business going to benefit from encryption of e-mail? It depends upon which conversations you are trying to protect- those between organizations, internal e-mails, sent to your customers, or any combination of these three!

a. Inter-organizational e-mails: this was the original purpose of encryption. Behind the scene, key management techniques using secure mail have made the whole arrangement hassle free. Encryption here is based upon certain policies as when it is absolute must, like those containing personally identifiable data, Social Security no., or payroll processors.

b. E-mails to your customers: customers can now get sensitive information directly to their e-mails instead of logging on to the website of organization for accessing confidential information. This improves your customer service, ensures quick stoppage of fraudulent activities, while benefiting both business and their customers.

c. Protection of internal e-mails: internal hosts when compromised pose danger to sensitive information especially to the client system and the server. Laptop/desktop up on your local network is prone to infection through malware with capability to reconfigure capturing and observing unencrypted e-mail messages. Malicious insiders also have the same capabilities to capture sensitive data with commonly available troubleshooting and diagnostic tools.

Encryption software can prove to be useful in all these cases by working at the endpoints namely the mobile devices, laptops, and the desktops used by e-mail recipients and senders. The software automatically decrypts the messages for recipients. Alternative products are also available with the organization especially to ensure the protection of internal correspondence via secure email service. They may use TLS/SSL protocols for encrypting traffic related to e-mail protocols like IMAP, SMTP, and POP3. When configured correctly encryption protects e-mail related traffic flow between centralized server and individual users.

It is possible to deploy encryption technology at endpoint individual level, gateway levels or both for integrity and confidentiality protection of e-mail attachments and messages. This is the best way to stop data breach for sensitive and protected information such as medical or financial records over local unsecured networks or Internet.

About The Author

Zeena McWarden is a cyber-security expert who writes many interesting articles to help bring email encryption and its advantages into the domain of common people. You can trust her advice for all your data security and integrity preservation requirements.