Internet Security

Standard email messages are simple text files. They can be read by anyone. Many people have access to your messages while they are being transported over the Internet:

• Internet Service Providers: Your company network is connected to the Internet through an ISP. When you send an email, it is stored on the hard disks of the email server computers at the ISP. The employees of the ISP have full access to your email while it is waiting to be sent. Potentially they could read it, modify it and take copies of it.
• Networking Service Companies: Most companies use outside consultants or service companies to maintain their networks. Email is often routed through the outside computers on its way to the Internet. As with ISPs, employees of these service companies have full access to the contents of your email.
• Routers: Internet data flows around the country and the world from one node to the next. These nodes are called "Routers". Administrators at these sites could capture copies of the data that flows through their routing equipment.

In short, sending an email message is like sending a postcard. Anyone who handles your mail can read it.

Competitors or other malicious agencies can quite easily gain access to your data. In several documented cases, companies developing new products have found that their competitors have beaten them to market using their own designs.

Private and confidential information, such as medical records and credit ratings, is often transmitted by email. There is a substantial risk of theft of this type of information.

The Solution: Encryption and Message Signing

MailMarshal provides a special module for encrypting and decrypting email to allow private email communications between companies and users. Using the S/MIME protocol, MailMarshal Secure gives every member of your organization access to encryption and signing of email messages.

"S/MIME" (Secure Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions) is an industry standard implementation of It has two aspects:

Encryption

Encrypted messages are "scrambled" and can only be read by the person who holds the appropriate key. To anyone else the email contents will not be readable text; it will be an unintelligible set of characters called ciphertext. Ciphertext looks like this:

MDwGCSqGSIb3DQEJARYvZG9t ZXIuY28ubnowgZ8wDQYJKoZI PeGRxIgQvhkk3yOEtvqmhnmA eCGNAgMBAAEwDQYJKoZIhvcN zzfyYdv60qsVB2im8WnhBEZRN BzjE500mjfweVll8HJhqIlZB+

Signing

Signing a message provides proof of the sender's identity. When you "Sign" a message, the software:

• Examines the original message and calculates a special number called a "Hash".
• Mathematically combines this "Hash" with your secret password (private key), producing a block of data called a "Signature".
• Includes this "Signature" in the message.

The receiving software (using your public key) verifies that this "Signed" message originated from you. This is possible because the "Signature" was created using your private key, and only matching public-private keys can work together.

These two features are normally used together. Most messages will be both encrypted and signed.

MailMarshal Secure has the following advantages:

• MailMarshal Secure uses industry standard S/MIME protocols.
• MailMarshal Secure encrypts at up to 168-bit (Triple DES) level; this is the industry standard.
• Because MailMarshal Secure follows standard encryption protocols it is compatible with most encryption-capable email applications including Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes.
• MailMarshal Secure allows every member of your organization to have the benefits of encryption with a single software installation and a centrally controlled system for managing keys.