Despite its acceptance as one of the greatest mass communication tools ever, e-mail is vulnerable to interception.
While that`s not of major concern to friends exchanging anecdotes online, in the corporate world it`s a potential disaster waiting to happen.
Companies use e-mail to communicate strategy, competitive information and even confidential financial and employment records.
The problem is that e-mail messages are sent over the Internet as plain text messages. This means it`s relatively simple for people with the right tools to read a message or copy it as it is sent over the routers that direct messages to their destination.
Spiros Theodossiou, a security products manager at Internet Solutions (IS), likens the process to sending a postcard over the regular postal system.
"Not everyone has access to the message written on the back of a postcard but there are several people who are quite easily able to read the contents," he says.
"When sensitive documents are sent via e-mail, they need to be made secure. There are several technologies that can be used to keep e-mail messages from prying eyes but they are not always compatible with one another and it can be a complex process to unlock encrypted files," says Theodossiou.
IS has teamed up with Certified Mail, a company that has come up with a simple way to encrypt sensitive e-mail messages.
Says Theodossiou: "Not all e-mail messages are confidential but those that are can be sent securely from an e-mail package`s outbox via the Certified Mail system."
Certified Mail provides secure, trackable messaging between any Internet users with e-mail software and a Web browser. E-mail senders create messages from a secure Web site running the application software, or by clicking a "send certified" button from the toolbar of their e-mail program.
Once a message has been received by the Certified Mail Web site, it sends a "message waiting" e-mail to the recipient.
"The e-mail travels to the recipient totally securely and the sender can check when it was retrieved," says Theodossiou.
"Most companies make extensive use of postal mail and premium services such as express delivery and faxing for secure communications."
Companies that are so tightly tied to paper-based mail for secure information delivery are an obvious candidate for encrypted e-mail. But correspondence needs to be confidential and unchanged while in transit. Services such as confidentiality, proof of delivery, proof of receipt, non-repudiation, and integrity have been much easier to achieve with traditional mail than via e-mail.
"Certified Mail carries these same benefits into the era of electronic communications. Information is kept confidential and is delivered to the recipient directly. Confirmation of its receipt is automatic," he says.
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Internet Solutions (IS) is SA`s leading provider of infrastructure foundations for electronic business and the forerunner in providing companies with effective connectivity solutions. At present, it connects over 1 500 organisations to the Internet and over 3 000 sites through its range of VPN solutions, thus forming the primary electronic business community in SA.
IS offers a fully managed environment together with expertise in areas such as Internet access, VPNs, hosting, dialup, security and data management. Its best-of-breed infrastructure is without equal and has been the preferred choice of leading companies since 1993.
As the Internet industry leader, IS is also dedicated to sharing its success with others by providing improved access to education and information to all South Africans, particularly previously disadvantaged communities.
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