Is Secure Email a Dilemma?

July 24, 2010 - PRLog -- Back in 2003, ETH Zurich published a paper “The Secure Email Dilemma” (http://www.zisc.ethz.ch/events/ISC20034Slides/inAndOutTalk.pdf) praising encrypted email transfer, but also assessing its issues. If there are any concerns at all in regards to secure email traffic, then the paper addresses (i) the loss of control over data flow; (ii) the higher complexity of management processes; and (iii) issues in regards to lost data.

Applying these mentioned concerns to recently launched Opolis Secure Mail (http://www.opolis.eu) probably indicates how far secure email traffic has developed over the last couple of years and also addressed these issues.

To start with, loss of control over data flow is correct, as far as unauthorized individuals – including hackers - have no chance to interpret secure, encrypted emails. One should rather argue in that context that – finally – emails are safe and secure and can only be read by the sender and the recipient. And, when working with Opolis, then the actual data flow can constantly be monitored by the sender who should be able to decide and know what happened to a sent message and how it was further processed. In that context secure email services, such as in the case of Opolis, have substantially improved the control over data flow.

Management processes are not at all more complex when applying secure email services, such as Opolis: All authorized individuals can work and process encrypted emails like any other non-secure emails. Secure emails can be forwarded, printed, copied, as long as the recipient is allowed to do so. However, there are differences between service providers, in that – currently – only Opolis has included the entire encryption technology in one service. For example, the separate transmissions of codes (e.g. via mobile devices) is not required, which substantially enhances comfort and convenience vis-à-vis other providers.

Recovering lost data can indeed be an issue, if an individual forgets the password required to access encrypted emails. However, this is not substantially different from losing non-secure emails after a hard drive crash, if there were no back-up made.

Opolis was developed to optimally serve customer needs in regards to secure email and document messaging: All messages and attached documents are sender-to-recipient encrypted and can therefore not be read by anyone else. Opolis emails are sent immediately, without delay. And, the sender can monitor and follow the entire path of a message and therefore sees immediately if and when the recipient has opened the mail and the attached document.

Opolis also includes other valuable features, such as:  The sender has always full authority over how the recipient can further process a message. Therefore, the sender decides whether the recipient may copy, print, respond to or forward a message or not. And, there is an attachment size limit of 125MB (way more than the usual 10-15MB with standard email) which should easily meet current demands.

Opolis is for free and merely requires that both, the sender and the recipient are Opolis users. The registration process takes approximately 5 minutes.

# # #

Opolis Secure Mail and Document Messaging Service
http://www.opolis.eu
Power to the Sender
I Protect – I Decide – I Control