* A hosted encryption solution from Kryptiva
E-mail encryption is widely deployed, but is not commonly used by the average e-mail user in the workplace. While encryption is important for a wide variety of communications because of regulatory requirements or simply to protect intellectual property or sensitive content, a lot of information that should be encrypted is sent in clear text.
Kryptiva is 12-employee Canadian start-up that has developed a hosted encryption solution designed to make it relatively easy for individuals to send encrypted e-mail on a one-off basis. Using a plug-in to the user’s e-mail client, a sender sends a message to a locally installed packaging server that encrypts it and returns it to the plug-in/client. The encrypted e-mail is then sent like a normal e-mail using any e-mail server.
If a recipient also has Kryptiva’s packaging server installed, that server receives the signature from the sender, verifies it and then provides the key used to decrypt the e-mail. Alternatively, the recipient’s plug-in can request the password for authentication and send it to Kryptiva’s online service for verification. The online service then provides the signature to the recipient’s plug-in for decryption. If a recipient does not have the Kryptiva plug-in, the recipient forwards the e-mail to the online service and another e-mail is returned to the recipient that contains a URL for accessing the content. After the link is clicked, the recipient enters a password to read the content.
Kryptiva’s solution was launched a couple of weeks ago. Although there are a variety of very good on-premise and hosted solutions currently on the market, Kryptiva’s solution is worth a look, particularly for organizations that don’t want to deploy an on-premise solution.
