PostX boosts e-mail authentication management

PostX last week released a new version of its e-mail encryption offering that lets organizations track, manage and administer their outbound e-mail encryption requirements that are often part of federal regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

PostX Messaging Application Platform (MAP), delivered as gateway software or a hosted service, can encrypt outbound mail without requiring the recipient to have special software installed to decrypt the message, according to Scott Olechowski, PostX’s vice president of product strategy.

The PostX Envelope technology included in MAP encrypts the contents of an e-mail using the Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm and compresses it, then packages it in an HTML file.

The recipient gets a message that says a secure e-mail is attached, then launches the HTML file in a browser and enters a password, and the message is decrypted on the recipient’s PC, Olechowski explains.

This is different from other encryption methods that either require the recipient to have decryption software installed or require the sender to host the encrypted messages on a Web site and direct recipients to their messages that can be viewed or downloaded from there, he says.

The advantage of the PostX Envelope approach is twofold, Olechowski says. “Recipients prefer to actually receive the information on their PCs, and you don’t have to be online to receive it,” he says.

MAP 6.0 includes enhanced policy management capabilities that can take advantage of PostX’s security and privacy lexicons. It also includes the ability to work with Smart Card and X.509 certificate authentication, Olechowski says, and integrates the OpenPGP e-mail encryption specification, as well as S/MIME.

PostX competes with encryption vendors Entrust, PGP, Ziplip and Ciphertrust.

MAP 6.0 is priced starting at $25,000.