Email Encryption Is for Everyone

By Stephanie Jordan
in

When people think about encrypted data, often a picture of government secrecy and classified documents comes to mind. Historically, government has been a power-user of encryption methods, but in today’s world email encryption is being used in more and more organizations beyond those traditionally thought of as ‘needing’ encryption (think financial, healthcare and government markets).

With email options today, including Web mail and mobile devices, the need to safeguard the information while in transit is even more prudent than it was a few years ago, especially as the speed of business continues to escalate. Everyday documents (such as purchase orders, contracts, financial statements or embargoed press releases) find more avenues for leaking out of the organization.

The need to protect sensitive company information and customer information are also being driven by increasing privacy and regulatory compliance needs. Laws such as HIPAA, HITECH, GLBA, SOX, and state data security requirements are making companies responsible for protecting certain types of data. Compliance experts point to the fines, and likelihood of lawsuits as prime reasons to implement encryption.

Just in time to respond to the increasing need to safeguard information, encryption technology has become easier to administer, and less expensive. Is it alarmist to say: “Everything sent unencrypted is read by unintended eyes?” Absolutely. But confidential records, especially those that fall under regulatory compliance as noted above, or the bad press that comes with having to admit to customers or clients of a data breach, may not be worth the risk, given the strides made in encryption technology and administration.

This month, Jesse McCabe, of Webroot Software and I are presenting the Messaging News webinar “Why Policy-Based Email Encryption is Critical in 2011”. I hope you find the time to spend an hour with us to explore this topic further.

Published December 2, 2010