An unprotected email is like a postcard: It can easily be read by administrators, employees of the internet provider, false recipients, and hackers who have penetrated the mail server. Risks of this kind have led to numerous entities – ranging from major corporations to police authorities and law firms all the way up to parliaments and politicians – suffering from severe email security breaches.

Reliable protection from email information leaks has been available for over 25 years: end-to-end email encryption. However, though dozens of email encryption tools have been created over the decades, encrypting emails is still far from being a matter of course. In fact, today only about 0.1 percent of all emails are encrypted, with even the most sensitive data often being left in the clear. There are various reasons for this alarming situation, including a lack of awareness or care, or the fear of high costs. However, the major reason for end-to-end email encryption being used so rarely is that the tools available are not user-friendly enough.

The dilemma starts with the existence of two competing standards which are not compatible with each other, and which differ in many seemingly subtle, but significant details:

Apart from this, using email encryption across different platforms is often difficult, as the same private key needs to be available on, for instance, the user’s PC, their smart phone, and their tablet. And then, even if only one format and one platform is involved, dealing with private keys, public keys, digital certificates and other PKI concepts is too difficult for many IT users.

To overcome the lack of user-friendliness in email encryption without compromising security, Eviden Cybersecurity Products has developed cryptovision GreenShield. Cryptovision GreenShield is one of only two email encryption products currently on the market that have received approval for the protection of NATO, EU and German national classified information, which underpins its position as one of the most secure solutions available. From the beginning, cryptovision GreenShield has been designed as a low interaction, maximum user-friendly software that does not require any encryption knowledge on part of its users. There is no easier way to encrypt and decrypt emails than with cryptovision GreenShield.

cryptovision GreenShield supports both S/MIME and OpenPGP in a transparent way. This goes far beyond detecting which format has been used in an incoming mail. Using a sophisticated metric, the program chooses the most suitable option, all while taking admin-configurable preferences into account. Any subtle differences – e.g. that S/MIME supports revocation lists, while OpenPGP doesn’t – are handled in an intelligent way. The user doesn’t even have to be aware of the two different formats.

cryptovision GreenShield is realized as a plugin for Microsoft Outlook and HCL Notes on Windows. The public keys can be shared automatically with compatible email security solutions on other platforms, including iOS, Android, macOS, and Linux , which enables the user to send and receive encrypted emails on all of their devices.

To further enhance user-friendliness, cryptovision GreenShield allows for a wide range of enrolment and renewal processes. Apart from the users, administrators profit from this feature. Both S/MIME and OpenPGP certificates can be created with minimal user interaction or with additional security means. Automated workflows with admin approvals and four-eyes principles can be designed. The security targets that are required for the protection of NATO/EU/German national classified information are standardly enforced by cryptovision GreenShield. When operating outside of the context of classified information, it is also possible for the operator to set different targets suitable for their organization’s needs – of course while maintaining the same high level of usability.